Warpaint, O2 Academy Brixton - music review

The women of Warpaint are not to be rushed. It took several years for this all-female Los Angeles band to record their bewitching debut; a self-titled follow-up has just been announced for January near their 10th anniversary.

True to form, it was almost 10pm when Warpaint appeared on a stark, shadowy stage and warmed up with an exploratory instrumental workout, the first half of new song Keep it Healthy.

Theresa Wayman switched between electronic effects including a drum pad to complement industrious Australian drummer Stella Mozgawa, while bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg rocked her body to the hazy rhythms and Emily Kokal summoned a keening vocal.

It’s imperative to mention each member because the shared musical intuition was a joy to witness. The only difficulty was the lack of audience familiarity with the latest Warpaint songs, although they still meandered as wondrously as a Morrissey paragraph.

Yet there was hit potential in new single Love is to Die, unusually concise for them, on which Wayman’s ethereal singing veered into an off-kilter chorus.

There was a rowdy reaction to more familiar tunes: the playground chanting and jagged guitars of Composure, Undertow’s drawling riffs and cooing vocals, the sparse, folkish Billie Holiday. Perhaps their music’s nod to British Eighties indie, such as The Cure and Cocteau Twins, explains why it works so well over here.

Only the few comments between songs betrayed their LA origins. “Just the way you’ve been listening to the set all night has reminded me why I love to play music,” Wayman gushed to fans down the front.

It was clear from their smiles that Warpaint enjoyed each other’s musical company. Kokal sang a solo version of brittle ballad Baby, but the band’s jam on an encore of Beetles reaffirmed their remarkable collective harmony during an exemplary comeback.