Warpaint, "The Fool"  54 Billboard Rating  Willowy Los Angeles
art-rock group Warpaint summons a remarkably heady atmosphere on
its debut album, "The Fool," which follows a buzzed-about EP
released last year on Los Angeles-based indie Manimal Vinyl. On
the song "Bees," guitarists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman layer
their instruments with an appropriately swarming intensity,
while slow-mo opener "Set Your Arms Down" reveals the patience
with which they pursue their dream-pop groove. Elsewhere, the
track "Undertow" showcases Warpaint's woozy three-part vocal
harmonies, and "Composure" somehow makes room for a left-field
cheerleader chant. Yet for all the top-shelf soundscaping, the
group rarely devises tunes to match, circling a melody instead
of nailing it or employing repetition where variety might've
offered more drama, with the exception of the strikingly pretty
"Baby." "I feel like a shadow," Kokal sings in the Karen O-ish
"Shadows," and you can understand where she's coming from: Too
much of "The Fool" f