By admin
LA’s mystical all girl rock band Warpaint have been no stranger to heavy and almost depressingly alluring sounds, with both ‘The Fool’ and their self-titled album emitting such vibes. However, their release of ‘Heads Up’ on Friday showed how the band have swerved away from the intense moods and have looked towards a more relaxed and danceable sound.
The band’s intention with their third full-length album is to capture the energy their live shows create, yet still sporting their groove that can be compared to the likes of The XX. They do this with a unique amount of layering, which is featured in their album opener ‘Whiteout’ that uses electronic beats and refracted guitar, immediately propelling Warpaint out of the hazy atmosphere that they were so comfortable in. ‘New Song’ throws disco beats and immediacy at you, whilst ‘The Stall’, in my opinion, has an FKA Twigs vibe to it with Kokal and Wayman’s ghostly vocals hypnotising you into a state of euphoria. Paired with Lindenberg’s velvet like bassline, makes it one of the most intense songs on the album. The centre tracks of ‘Heads Up’, however, just seem to merge into one long song full of whispered vocals against a slightly upbeat melody. It picks up again at the title track, with a seductive bassline that sounds The Cure-esque. ‘Above Control’ and ‘Today Dear’ finish off the album well, with ‘Today Dear’ closing it with hushed vocals that, for me, sound like a fairytale in a song.
This new, free-spirited Warpaint does show promise and we can see them creeping out of their comfort zone, however, on a whole, the album lacks a ‘something something’ and because their sound is neither a deep haze of intense emotion nor a discofied fiesta of fun with influences of R&B and hip hop, it’s stuck in this limbo that just doesn’t really do much. Hopefully, their energetic live shows reflect this attempt at an energetic album better.
