Warpaint
[#] Warpaint (2014)
Glossy, understated, unfurling.
Reviewed September 29, 2025
I've been chasing down Warpaint's self-titled since I was in high school. "Love is to Die" proved itself to die for, an upbeat-yet-diffuse cloud of inky vapor with boom-bap drums and seductively doomed vocals telling of knives to cut out the memories ("it's not necessary to be so dark", guitarist Emily Kokal assures herself). Issue being, there was something keeping me from embracing more where that came from, but with the attention span that adulthood brings, I know now why. Warpaint is the kind of gauzy, minimalist effort where the hooks require a bit of patience to uncover—or the middle is just undercooked, depending on how you look at it. Either way, your patience will be greatly rewarded with time and the final four songs.
There's a really thumpy bottom end to this album that keeps the ethereal vocals grounded in reality, like an auditory opium den or sunbeams in darkened bedrooms post-coitus. The basslines are super prominent, and these girls aren't afraid to dig in with an earthy drum beat, like on "Disco//Very", to support the swirling mirages of keyboards and harmonies. It's actually when they lean into those mirages with "Hi" through "Teese" that the atmosphere grows the thickest and the songs the most patience-testing. The payoff comes in the final third, especially the successive punch of "Go In", "Feeling Alright", and "CC". The songs come sharper, the yearning hungrier, and penultimate "Drive" has the kind of personal epiphany that truly justifies the grand sonics. Give me more, I haven't had this before indeed.
| Essential: | "Love is to Die", "Feeling Alright", "Drive" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "Go In" |
| Non-Essential: | "Biggy" |
| Rating: |  |