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Review: Warpaint – Warpaint

On a yellow filter background, translucent pictures of women lie on top of one other like x-rays: a gauzy, polaroid vision. This is the art for Warpaint. The cover of the eponymous third album by the Californian indie rock outfit is hazy at first glance, but when scrutinised, holds incredible clarity and beauty. As such, as a window into its content, it serves as a perfect illustration of the band’s musical assertion.

Tense minor guitar progressions and persistent drums open the record with a steady and climactic build in ‘Intro’, which is reined into line with the direction and power of ‘Keep It Healthy’. From the first introduction of Kokal’s echoing vocals on the opening line “I could not believe what I was seeing,” we are reminded that this is a special band. The vocals are not flawless, but despite the slight strain and force, they are still bewitching, and the imperfection makes the lyrics’ sentiment seem all the more believable and powerful. The atmosphere underscoring her voice produces an enveloping affect.

The tones get twisted and screwed up, then spread out smooth in alternating sequences. ‘Teese’ is a long drawl of hazy and hypnotic dream-pop simplicity, where minimalist vocals wash over acoustic guitar.

Warpaint then jumps ship into hard and gritty linear melodies on ‘Disco//very’. “We’ll rip you up and tear you in two,” they chant, fulfilling the false sense of security promised by the preceding track.

Perhaps the best moment on the album comes on penultimate track ‘Drive’, which has a vulnerability unseen until this point. “I’m a lucky child,” is sung in a surprising and haunting melody, and tips the song into melancholy beauty before it dwindles incrementally into a ghost of its former self. This is followed by ‘Son’, where a sombre atmosphere closes the record decisively, though also with a tinge of misery.

Warpaint is a round and dreamy universe of dissonant chords and hypnotic circular melodies, but its constantly shifting rhythm and tone will have you on the edge of your seat, about to fall off and with no idea where you might end up.

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