Warpaint
[#] Exquisite Corpse (2008)
The pieces just don't quite come together.
Reviewed February 2, 2026
Like a movie you have to watch a few times to catch all its little details, Warpaint's debut album Exquisite Corpse is probably what people are referring to when they talk about EPs being frustrating. There's good tunes here and a lot of range in their sonic humidifier clouds of twinkly gentle passages and surfy stomping. They're augmented even by not just one, but two different Chili Peppers guitarists. This should've been a knockout, and I can't tell if it's that it's too slight or that one or two duds is simply too many for such a short album that it isn't.
Opener "Stars" is Warpaint's sound and the required patience on full display. You get these warm, wandering guitar strums and Theresa Wayman's lovely, dreamy whispers as the song takes two entire minutes to build to the full band entrance. It also works, whereas the musical mire of "Burgundy" very much doesn't. For all its strengths, like the moving, detached vocals and fingerpicked guitars of "Billie Holiday" or "Elephants" and "Krimson" injecting some much needed hooks and gasoline into the proceedings, it just doesn't feel like you get a complete whole with Exquisite Corpse at the end of the day.
| Essential: | "Stars", "Elephants", "Billie Holiday" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "Krimson" |
| Non-Essential: | "Burgundy" |
| Rating: |  |