A few Wednesdays ago we hopped over to Kentish town, polished off a Kopperberg or two at the pub next to hmv forum then headed in to have our ears caressed by the harmonies of Warpaint. It was a great night, one of the best actually, which in this year of London explorations, drunken indiscretions, musical discoveries and evenings spent laughing so hard you wish you'd listened to your mum when she advocated starting those pelvic floor exercises young, is really saying something. Point being I have had many nights that I have wanted to savor, and seen many bands that I have wanted to be in...but this warpaint gig is easily up there in my top 5 London moments. We only caught the last song of the first support band but they seemed promising with the guitarist's Hendrix-esque afro and the front-man's seductive wailing. The second support band on the other hand were far more entertaining, the singer (and I use that term loosely because the noise escaping his mouth sounded more like a 13 year old girl bemoaning the delayed textual reply of whichever guy she's crushing on that week) looked like he had just returned to earth after ten years held hostage on Mars. I think they thought of themselves as pretty avant-garde, in one song they decided to ditch the drummer in favor of two girls, clearly chosen for their ability to look painfully bored, dressed in kimonos and waving fans perfectly in time to an unheard beat. These girls then stayed on stage for the rest of the set doing absolutely fuck all while the band members produced a sound akin to that of alley cats whispering David Bowie lyrics down a Buzz Lightyear voice changer. By the time Warpaint came on, we were ready. Before hearing them live I'd always described the all girl band as sort of chilled and psychedelic, the vocals haunting yet serene, but live they were far more aggressive and bewitching. Whilst The Fool is a damn good record that's been played and re-played more times than you could count in my 8th floor room, it really does not manage to capture Warpaint's sound, which is less passively eerie and more violently sinister in real life. Kokal and Wayman crooned in harmony either side of the beautiful Jenny Lee Lindberg who I have such a giant girl crush on. Despite the delicious girl-power loudness of the gig my favourite part was the encore. Emily Kokal took to the stage solo to sing 'Baby' (definite contender for my fave track on the album), I couldn't stop smiling, or move my eyes from the corner of the stage where she stood. I thought I was going to leave the evening elated but ever-so-slightly disappointed because they hadn't played it. It sounded like a dream. I can't quite pinpoint why I love that song so much, it's so simple...I like the nod to George Harrison's Long Long Long as she sings the line 'How I love you' it makes me feel like I'm on the same wavelength as Warpaint, in which appreciating underrated Beatles songs is cool again and not just the past time of the musically nerdy, socially stunted 17 year old boys I used to fancy aged 15.
No comments:
Post a Comment