Review Summary: If you had to go where I was not looking out/ It won't happen anymore but look what I found/ I was always talking too much.
I have always regarded Warpaint to be the embodiment of imperfect perfection. While the band’s critically acclaimed debut LP, ‘The Fool’ flourished by threading a fine line between bohemian quirkiness and seductive beauty, in a live environment the band had the potential to either be humiliatingly poor or beautifully intimate. This increasing unpredictability in the live environment combined with an apparently fraught recording process during the writing of their sophomore effort led to many fearing that the band had lost their mystic charm that made their debut so compelling. So it is with some relief that we have a record at all, nevermind one so spotless in its execution.
Even the most fleeting of listens of ‘Warpaint’s’ lead single, ‘Love is to Die’ shows a marked difference in the bands songcraft. Sliding into life with a pulsing bass line and syncopated percussion before working itself through Theresa Wayman’s distressed lyrics, “Your eyes stare/ Am I humble as I go/ I’m holding in tight/ To something long as I go,” it seems immediately apparent that Warpaint have evolved into a darker and more technical band. A band that have abandoned all pop inclinations.
Despite the bands more sombre tendencies, ‘Warpaint’s’ ethereal shoe gaze has the capability to dilute itself from a Cocteau Twins influence to the industrial electronica of Aphex Twin. ‘Biggy’ is perhaps the finest example of this change in texture and tone, where an echoed, meaty synth pounds under Wayman’s tender falsetto, creating air for Mozgawa’s relentless drumming style to breathe, painting a canvas that’s hypnotic, rather than lethargic. The successful threading of this fine line is largely down to Warpaint’s decision to place veteran rock producer Mark Flood behind the computer screen to complete the record. Flood’s more simplistic approach allows a vast expanse for the bands instruments to interact, a technique that is best emphasised in the album’s percussion and bass segments. Synthesized texture’s are allowed time to weave through the post-funk chants of the ‘Disco/ Very’, while group vocals waft through the warm haze of ‘CC’, whereas before they vanished in the bands quest for a melodic hook.
Warpaint’s sophomore album, like their growing fan base, is a true slow burner. Though musical craftsmanship, lyrical desolation and an edgy atmosphere were attributes that were associated with Warpaint’s first incarnation, this time they have been accentuated in favour of abandoning the pop hook. While this may disappoint those on the edge of Warpaint’s fan base, the result is an album that cuts to the heart of what this band are about; human flaws through sonic sublimity.
