Warpaint - Exquisite Corpse (December 7, 2009)
(Ambient/Folk/Shoegaze)
(Ambient/Folk/Shoegaze)Warpaint are a band whose name is being increasingly dropped around the internet, and upon my first listen through their EP I decided that it needed to be dropped some more, so here goes. Warpaint are a Los Angeles based psychedelic/shoegaze band formed in 2007, who have under their belts notable press from the late Heath Ledger, Billy Zane, and also from John Frusciante - who produced their debut release Exquisite Corpse for Manimal Vinyl earlier this year. Their drummer/keyboardist Josh Klinghoffer is known for his numberous collaborations with Frusciante, and has played as a session musician for a whole host of bands including Neon Neon, PJ Harvey and Frusciante himself. The resulting album is not quite such a morbid affair as its title suggests, but does deal with some quite negative themes through some dark, ethereal instrumentation.
The music is beautiful and most of the time very downbeat - I call it shoegaze mainly because although the songs never melt down into a total haze - a typical Warpaint track starts off at almost silence, before the ethereality ascends and surrounds. The music verges on ambient, and aside from the drums, the only piercing noises in the whole arrangement are the stunning vocals of Jenny Lee Lindberg, Emily Kokal, and Theresa Wayman. Time rolls along and tracks, which typically stand at about 5 to 6 minutes in length, feel like lo-fi summer folk songs draped in the cold of the autumn and onset of winter. The more you listen to this band the more you are drawn in, and what might seem like nothing particularly engaging, works extremely hard for your appreciation. Like many bands of this year, Warpaint are doing more with less. You can file this one next to Holly Miranda (review) in terms of sound - and keep an eye on both artists in terms of 2010 success. Warpaint are playing dates early next year in the US with Yeasayer (previous posts) and Akron/Family. So if you're lucky enough to live in Texas - paying a visit to one of these shows is a must.
FILE NEXT TO - Holly Miranda, The Antlers, Mercury Rev
The music is beautiful and most of the time very downbeat - I call it shoegaze mainly because although the songs never melt down into a total haze - a typical Warpaint track starts off at almost silence, before the ethereality ascends and surrounds. The music verges on ambient, and aside from the drums, the only piercing noises in the whole arrangement are the stunning vocals of Jenny Lee Lindberg, Emily Kokal, and Theresa Wayman. Time rolls along and tracks, which typically stand at about 5 to 6 minutes in length, feel like lo-fi summer folk songs draped in the cold of the autumn and onset of winter. The more you listen to this band the more you are drawn in, and what might seem like nothing particularly engaging, works extremely hard for your appreciation. Like many bands of this year, Warpaint are doing more with less. You can file this one next to Holly Miranda (review) in terms of sound - and keep an eye on both artists in terms of 2010 success. Warpaint are playing dates early next year in the US with Yeasayer (previous posts) and Akron/Family. So if you're lucky enough to live in Texas - paying a visit to one of these shows is a must.
FILE NEXT TO - Holly Miranda, The Antlers, Mercury Rev
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