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WARPAINT REVIEW

Over the past decade, the music festival scene has been on the rise. This musical renaissance of sorts has brought back the wonder and draw of one thing: the jam band.

While to some this may sound like just noise, there is one group that brings the jam band sound up a few notches to create something so melodic and rich in layers that one can’t help but get lost in the music.

Warpaint, an L.A. based all-girl rock band, has been redefining both the jam band as well as the girl band since their formation in 2004.

The group has two full length albums and one EP under their belt. Though this may not seem like a lot, listening through track by track helps put into perspective the unique sound this group has come to create.

Their self-titled album was released Jan. 17 of this year, about three years after the release of their first studio album “The Fool”.

Following suit of its predecessor, “Warpaint” is full of rich bass lines, ambient guitar and vocal harmonies, and more effects than you could imagine to weave together a sound that is uniquely the band’s own.

One noticeable difference between “Warpaint” and “The Fool” is the overall mood of the album. The new record features much slower, more intense songs. The album as a whole seems to have a more heavy tone, as opposed to “The Fool”.

Songs like “Cc” and “Love is to Die” really encapsulate the sort of dissonant vibe that this album creates.

Unlike “The Fool”, the new record features more variety in terms of instrumentation. The use of drum machines in certain songs is a prominent change, but gives the songs that extra something.

Lyrically, “Warpaint” seems like just poetry performed and sung over a weekend jam session. They suggest a sort of love and loss vibe, but never come right out with an apparent emotional notion—that’s the music’s job.

Whereas “The Fool” and their EP “Exquisite Corpse” were more dynamic in tempo changes and overall sound, “Warpaint” is much more static in its presentation.

A lot of people tend to choose their music for certain moods. “Warpaint” is definitely a mood themed album; it’s not necessarily what you might blast in the car, but given the right time it can be perfect.

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