TRIDENT

WARPAINT WARPAINT WARPAINT |MUSIC

Warpaint - Keep It Healthy

With the (kinda) recent release of their eponymous second album, Warpaint have emerged from their niche audience to a respectably earned heroic status. The album features 12 indie-psych-rock songs with echoing vocals, catchy choruses and hypnotic laissez-fare melodies; Bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg told NME that some of the songs were written by "just jam[ming] and free-flow[ing]". The experimental nature of the band's music is perhaps the heart of their intrigue, however this is not to say that they don't have a unique personal style and sound...



THE BAND

Emily Kokal (vocals, keys, guitar), Theresa Wayman (guitar, vocals), Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass, backing vocals) and drummer Stella Mozgawa form the band, and what I like to see is that every band member is equal. When I hear or see "Warpaint" I don't automatically think of the lead singer, instead I visualise the band as a whole, and it seems to be an emerging trait in bands to have equally present personalities, for example Haim. Just like Haim, this is also relevant in the music itself, with three of four band members participating vocals and each instrument - the drums, the bass, the guitars - fantastically present, which seems to have an extremely positive effect by emitting a refreshing closeness of creativity.

Boot game strong L-R: Stella Mozgawa, Emily Kokal, Jenny Lee Lindberg, Theresa Wayman in their native Los Angeles

Warpaint - Disco//Very
 

THE MUSIC

“I THINK IT’S PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT HAVE A VISUAL TO A SONG, EVEN IF IT’S REALLY ABSTRACT AND SURREAL IN YOUR HEAD” — THERESA WAYMAN

This quote pretty much sums up the feel of the new album: a stylised, minimalistic yet atmospheric and mystical creation. Intro opens up the album with a just-under-2-minutes jam shared between the band, immediately showcasing their intertwined musical connection as well as an endearing false-start when one band member messes up and cries "aaAGH! Sorry" while the rest carry on and they start again. Leaving this in gives a real feel of their live recording style and kick-starts the album with a fresh, unique atmosphere. This bleeds nicely into Keep It Healthy, continuing and embellishing the drum beat and bassline from the intro and adding weaving guitar rhythms and entrancing, catchy vocals. Right after is another of the big tracks on the album Love Is To Die, the first single and probably the cornerstone that protrudes a surreal and psychedelic rock atmosphere with the laissez-fare melodies and whirring, beautiful vocals in full swing - "Love is to die/Love is to not die/Love is to dance." The thoughtful existential lyrics are heavily thematic throughout the album, for example in Biggy where Emily Kokal wails "The colour of my native skin/Coloured into a colour never seen/A sun so full arises." Another lively track is Disco//Very, delivering a fine example of Warpaint's ability to experiment with harmonising, repetition, layering, reverb... the list goes on. However, their talents still lie with their other more relaxed tracks - Hi, Teese, Go in, Feeling Alright, CC, Drive and Son - where tenderness and tranquillity ride along the same waves of entranced-rock from the livelier tracks, but nonetheless still lively and awake like everything Warpaint create.

Warpaint can be listened to beautifully without actual visual content for, along with what Theresa said, Warpaint's music flows visuals and atmosphere through the music itself...

Warpaint - Love Is To Die

Warpaint live at HMV Forum, London