Since discovering Warpaint early this year, this album quickly became one of my most anticipated releases of 2010.  After seeing them perform live when they were featured on Noisemakers while I was waiting for the Exquisite Corpse EP to arrive in the mail (international mail is slow), I fell in love with their intense, layered, slow building jams.  The influence of the new drummer, Stella Mozgawa was immediately clear after listening to the EP, recorded before she joined the band, which lacked the additional chemistry that she seemed to bring.

Which brings me to The Fool.  First impression, like the EP, it was lacking some of the power of their live performance.  Second impression, after listening on headphones instead of laptop speakers (I'm travelling), my god.  It's not so much a case of not living up to expectations, it's a case of exceeding them in different ways.

The Fool is an amazing record.  A band evolved.  The difference of the studio recording versus the live performance is in the details.  And there are plenty of details to make this album worthwhile.  Stella Mozgawa brings the drumming to a level that really matches the rest of the band, combining with Jenny Lindberg's sinuous bass to provide an amazing rhythmic backing for the floating reverb of the guitar work by Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman.

In a deck of tarot cards, The Fool represents a spirit in search of experience.  The albums thick layering of the instruments and harmonies play out like a mystical journey into the desert, complete with moments of beautiful serenity, epiphanies and the occasional freak out, with enough threat of everything going completely wrong to make the trip worthwhile.