May 1 — “Elephants” by Warpaint

Warpaint

If you only listen to one song today, make it “Elephants” by Warpaint (2008, from the Exquisite Corpse EP).
Warpaint is an all-girl psychedelic rock quartet from Los Angeles who have released one EP and one album since their formation in 2004. Prior to the release of Exquisite Corpse, they quietly went about their business for four years or so, changing sonic styles and drummers with the changes in the weather. Actually, for a long time, actress Shannyn Sossamon (who is hotter than 12 suns if you ask me) was their drummer. In fact, she played drums on today’s song. Her sister, who was an original member, still plays bass for Warpaint.

The girls, who may or may not practice wiccanism, sort of plodded away through the mid-aughts even while Sossamon was acting in major motion pictures. Just after they recorded their EP Exquisite Corpse, she left the band to focus on her acting.

Exquisite Corpse, which was actually recorded two years before it finally got released, was extremely well-received by critics. Although they self-released it, they were quickly picked up by Rough Trade Records after they played at the CMJ Festival. In part because their drummer was a Hollywood actress, and in part because they were a pretty great band, they had something of a celebrity fanbase, even if nobody else knew who they were. That all changed with the release of Exquisite Corpse. They were put on all sorts of lists of “hot new bands” and “bands to watch in 2010”, and that sort of thing.

In the autumn of 2010, they released their debut album The Fool. It got favorable reviews, but a lot of critics and fans thought that they had underachieved. I loved it. Because it was really fresh on my mind and was the flavour of the week, I made the rash decision to call it #1 among my favorite 15 non-Canadian albums of 2010. It’s always a gamble to write those lists in the heat of a moment, and in retrospect, I would drastically re-write that list with Sharon Van Etten much, much closer to the top and Frightened Rabbit much, much closer to the bottom. The Warpaint album would also probably end up in the bottom third. Some of the albums on that list would be left off completely if I re-wrote my 2010 lists today. That’s the way those things work, though. Sometimes a flavor of the month gets too much weight.

I also obtained the Warpaint discography in reverse order. I got the album first, then the older EP. Now, I would say that the full-length album pales in comparison to the EP. The album is a bit more polished and bright than I think it should be. The EP is dark and murky, and it seems like that was what the girls were trying to accomplish. I read something somewhere once where one of them said that they were going for an “underwater” feel with the EP. In today’s song, that’s exactly the sound that the vocals take, starting at the 2:00 mark. It’s not like some tropic lagoon underwater, though. It’s more like a filthy swamp type of underwater. I kinda like it like that.

The lead guitar with the almost-harmonic note melody is ridiculously hypnotic. It’s strange for that bit of brightness to be juxtaposed with everything else, which is dark. There are a few moments when the vocals meander around a bit and sound a touch Björk-esque. That’s not a bad thing, either.

For me, though, it’s all about the coda. The final act of the song starts at 4:00. There’s a bit with bass drum, bass guitar, and the sound of blowing wind. Then at 4:18, it shifts to drums that are really heavy hi-hat and snare along with that aforementioned guitar bit. I love that the song ends that way.

Buy Warpaint records, including Exquisite Corpse from the band’s online store.