Class Of 2010: Warpaint

The only non-Brits on the list, Warpaint are three women who after positive CMJ notices and a critically acclaimed EP, Exquisite Corpse (which features contributions from John Frusciante), have signed to Rough Trade for a forthcoming album and are about to play with Yeasayer and Akron/Family across the US. These are the facts. Opinions are slightly harder to pin down to 150 words or so. They're cloaked in a fog of melodic mystery, utilising space in a way similar to The XX but using as their template foggy slo-mo soundscapes, off-kilter harmonies and gauzy psychedelic explorations of the psyche and, in the case of the track Billie Holiday, repurposing pop itself as cut-up darkness. You may think of Cat Power's pre-Memphis doubtful comforts in visions and wracked emotions, only there's an underlying strength they can call upon to undercut the atmospheric detail, playing around with effects or lingering windchime guitar chords. We've seen plenty of bands in recent years, especially American, burst out of the blocks with something utterly magical and then completely fail to capitalise under the self-imposed strain, but such is the resoluteness lying beneath what bleakness forms the EP that on that score they surely only have rushing into things under hype pressures to fear.

Warpaint - Elephants