Sinewy basslines, murky undercurrents, driving rhythms and vocals that flit across the top with incredible fragile beauty. That could easily be a description of a Thom Yorke record, and perhaps it's having Nigel Godrich's name attached to the album that brings that suggestion so immediately to mind, but Warpaint's second LP (The Fool was released in 2010 to rave reviews) is exquisitely seductive, not because they've modelled themselves on Yorke (or anyone else), but because the songs are such strong compositions.
That might sound a strange thing to say about an album that mostly dabbles in smoky, wispy, undefined edges, but mixing a palette of dreamy and dark, they've underpinned all the weaving, sprawling vocals and guitars with throbbing grooves.
There are flickers of R'n'B influence on tracks like Love Is To Die and Biggie, and Disco/Very picks up their previous post-punk aesthetic and merges it with a undeniably dance-oriented rhythm track, to create a heady, late-night party starter. Feeling Alright feels like it should be played on a long, dark car ride, and CC has a touch of Nine Inch Nails in its ethereal industrial quality.
The all-girl four-piece got seminal British producer Flood to record and mix 10 of the 12 tracks, with Godrich taking the remaining two - and some credit should go their way for taking the many gauzy, mysterious layers and giving each of them solid weight and distinction - but Emily, Stella, Jenny-Lee and Theresa got the essential elements of groove and melody right, and hypnotised us once again.
