Review: The Fool

The Fool, Warpaint (2010)

Set up in 2004, Warpaint have by this point made their name on the indie scene. They came to my attention due to their inclusion in this year's BBC Sound of... Competition, and I immediately fell in love with their hypnotic style and potent lyrics. The Fool isn't exactly revolutionary; it's too subdued for that, too layed back. A silent revolution, then, because this is like almost nothing that has come before.
     The band's main hallmarks, immediately noticable in their first single, "Set Your Arms Down", are a complex bassline, 70s-style psychedelic guitars and strong, floating vocals. The first single throws us into this world from the word go, drenching us with its calm but driven attitude. This is followed by the self-titled "Warpaint", which has a more distinctly Eastern feel to it and picks up on those military connotations using marching-drums and a faster tempo. 
     I've got a soft spot for the next track on the album, "Undertow", which you'll remember from the BBC Sound of... review. While the dreamy, rustic bassline is interesting, the lyrics here are the main attraction - memorable and catchy without losing any of their meaning. I also simply adore the vocals.
     "Bees," as one would expect from the title, is a little more busy, with over-layed basses and a dreamy vocal. This is also the first song on the album to use rather obvious synth. I don't like this as much as the others, because there's too much going on and it feels a little shoddy. Decent guitar work though.
    The next single is the quiter "Shadows", siren-like vocals floating over a simple, rustic bassline on guitar. I notice at this point that each song has a lot of emotive character to it. "Shadows" is dissapointed, tired. Worn down. After that, "Composure" displays some faintly African influences with a light chanting that soon becomes irritating, after which it develops into a slow 80s ballad. Too repetitive for my liking, unfortunately.
     "Baby" feels more like a traditional ballad, with a slow guitar in the back and vocals slightly more akin to Dido (and in my book, that's not a negative.) Penultimate single "Majesty" is more of the same. Final mention goes to "Lissie's Heart Murmur", a nice piece with a piano and a very hushed vocal.
     My problem with slo-core is that the song manages to get its points across in a relatively short space of time and can only repeat that later on. It may just be my attention span, but for some reason the slow, melancholic drawls don't manage to entertain me for the amount of time I feel forced to listen.
    So, to sum up, The Fool is an enthusiastic excercise of the slo-core concept with quite a few decent ideas and songs, but it suffers from the issues inherant within the genre. A couple of songs also just amplified these issues with their repetitive lyrics and basslines. So; buy nor not? I personally wouldn't buy this album, but I would take a quick look at some of their music on Youtube because it is at least notable and interesting.

Thanks.