Warpaint: Warpaint (2LP) [ROUGH TRADE]

Why you'll love it

This Rough Trade 2LP set comes in a gatefold jacket with an etched fourth side and a download card. Flood co-produced it, and "Love Is to Die" became one of the band's signature songs.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Etched side D
• Gatefold jacket
• Download card included

About the album

Warpaint's lineup had never written an album from the ground up together, so for their second they did exactly that, jamming ideas at soundchecks and on stage until songs emerged. Drummer Stella Mozgawa, bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg, guitarist Theresa Wayman and singer Emily Kokal aimed for something more minimal, and Flood came in to co-produce. A documentary named after "Love Is to Die" followed the making of the album, and the song later lent its title to an episode of True Blood.

The result leans on keyboards, drum machines and ambience, with Kokal citing R&B and rap as influences. "Love Is to Die" glides on a slinky bass line, "Biggy" hovers in a misty haze, "Disco//Very" snaps into a chanted groove and "Hi" pulses quietly underneath. It's dream pop with a rhythm section that won't sit still. Kokal and Wayman's voices blur together beautifully throughout.

It picked up a double silver award from the independent labels' association IMPALA, for at least 40,000 copies sold across Europe. Side D is etched, so that one is for the eyes rather than the stylus.

Also at Kops: more Warpaint on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Rough Trade (cat# RTRADLP680), the 2014 album.