Warpaint

Warpaint, much like fellow explorers Liars, Clipd Beaks and Lights, strike a delicious balance between song craft, moody pop hooks and heady sonic investigation. Coming together in 2004, on Valentine's Day to be specific, the all-female quartet spent three years gigging around the greater Los Angeles area before recording its debut EP, Exquisite Corpse. Putting off the studio was a prudent move. In that time, Warpaint turned into real-deal perfectionists, honing an arty blend of narcotic harmonies that fall between Animal Collective and Fleetwood Mac, neo-Paisley Underground jangle and dubby post-punk grooves that stutter, turn and dissolve with intuitive patience. Particularly crucial to Warpaint's groove-oriented dream pop are bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg and drummer Stella Mozgawa, both of whom make up a supple and refined rhythm section. After Exquisite Corpse, which took more than two months to finish, Warpaint returned to their hectic performance schedule. They also inked a deal with Rough Trade, one of post-punk's great record labels. This led to a European tour with The XX. In autumn 2010, the ensemble dropped The Fool, a mature and finely crafted debut album.