Warpaint - Out Today

I can't remember the last time I bought a record the day it was released. I've preordered them, bought them in the incredible play.com sales and on random paydays, I go shopping.
Today however, I'm scooting over to Rough Trade to get my grubby little mits on Warpaint's debut album and I can't wait.

Why am I buying it today? Mainly to prove a point to myself. I've been listening to the album for a while and it is a truly remarkable offering, a heady mix of shoegaze, psychedelic indie and ethereal harmonies that leave you calmly excited and desperate for more.
The album's slow progression works in it favour with most tracks over 5 minutes. The listener is encouraged to really submerge in the mood and melodies contained in each package and appreciate their slow-burning nature, as opposed to compacting everything into a three and a half minute package that focusses on an immediate impact. Not that Warpaint don't of course, their tracks are given space to breathe over the 5 minutes instead of the huffing and puffing over a 3 minute track. The same effect but more gentle and effective.


Buying it on release day is because I'm still excited to experience it. I'm excited to go home with a freshly wrapped CD, carefully take the plastic off, pop the CD in my computer, put on my headphones and listen. Not to a 192 MP3, to the actual CD. To flick over the artwork, the thank you's, the lyrics, who knows what's in the booklet? To immerse myself in an album's full sensory experience, as opposed to simply listening to the songs with the rattle of tube trains in the background.

This doesn't make me a better person than you, that's not what I'm trying to say. This is about loving an album that I can finally hold, by all accounts this record has been a long time coming and in the world of blogs hyping band after band, the excessive media exposure means fans can often be tired of a band before they've even released their debut album.
This is about the end product, the culmination of all those shows, press releases and interviews to raise awareness in an overcrowded music media world. This is how the band want me to engage with their music, nothing in an album's presentation should be unintentional and I cannot wait to read every word, interpret every picture and be completely consumed by the album.

I recommend you do the same.
Buy it here