“These ended up becoming who I am”: A selection of Warpaint’s favourite tracks and albums
A band like Warpaint would likely spark assumptions about their favourite music, with most expecting them to point to obvious suspects like The Cure as significant influences. While that is true to an extent, there’s much more to discover under their roster of cherished sounds, from the folk-rock dreamscapes of Joni Mitchell to the electronic edges of Depeche Mode.
In reality, Warpaint are probably the most eclectic band you’ll ever come across, with tastes spanning almost every genre, from rock and folk to R&B and pop. “I think you can pinpoint the influences of my life based on the cassette tapes people gave me,” lead vocalist Emily Kokal once told 52 Insights. While some might be overwhelmed by choice, these “ended up becoming who I am”.
Being a manifestation of all your favourite artists is no bad thing – in fact, for most musicians, it makes them even better as they take all of their most worshipped aspects and transform them into something even more intriguing. Although rock music often helps many to form their own sound, quite often, it’s the more relaxing contributions that end up cutting deep.
“With me, my household was a little chaotic and Enya had this really calming angelic feeling, so that was my way of chilling out,” Kokal once explained, singling out ‘Orinoco Flow’ as one of the Irish singer’s best works. While Kokal also enjoys Mitchell’s Blue and The Cure’s Disintegration, she isn’t afraid to admit her more “uncool” favourites, like U2. More specifically, their song ‘With or Without You’.
However, perhaps the most obvious reason why Warpaint evades easy categorisation is the fact that each member has their own preferences. When faced with the same task, bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg points to some of the biggest game changers in dark synth wave. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘Umbrella’ caught her attention.
“The guitars are creepy and eerie but also beautiful, and the vox are primal and amazing as per usual,” Lindberg told The Week. The timeless tunes are likely to pique Lindberg’s interest the most, like The Stranglers’ ‘Golden Brown’, which, in her view, “pretty much never gets old”. The bassist also enjoys The Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Luna’ for a similar reason, citing the ways it makes her feel “forever 13”.
However, not all of Lingberg’s favourites are ones she experienced an instant connection with. For instance, when she first listened to Depeche Mode’s ‘Love In Itself’, she recalls she “really had to work for it.” Elaborating, she explained: “It took a minute for me to get into it, [but] my appreciation for it is greater than I could have imagined. It has such amazing sinister synth lines, and a funky beat all the way through.”
Guitarist and vocalist Theresa Wayman may share more in common with Kokal, but many of her preferences generally follow an overarching pattern of nostalgia. For instance, discussing Talking Heads’ Remain In Light, she once recalled initially being taken aback by the startling album cover, which prompted her to check out the music. Afterwards, she fell in love with the many layers the music had.
Wayman also explained her love for Björk’s Debut, telling Another: “I started listening to Debut when I was around 18. I felt, as probably many girls did, that she was speaking directly to me.”
She added: “She was expressing all the things that I wanted to say while also creating really deep, yet exciting music. I just loved that she was almost a full spectrum of emotion and experience and that she was such an unlikely pop star.”
When drummer Stella Mozgawa reveals her favourites, it serves to prove Warpaint’s varied tastes even further, as she praises the gorgeous vocalisation of Nina Simone, labelling her as a singer “no one can touch.” When it comes to crafting the perfect playlist, however, she firmly believed that “no playlist is complete without” ‘Pastoral’ by Moondog. “[It’s] One of my all time favourite pieces of recorded music,” the musician told Hero.
Check out a playlist comprising a selection of Warpaint’s favourite tracks below.
Warpaint’s favourite songs:
- Enya – ‘Orinoco Flow’
- Joni Mitchell – Blue
- The Cure – Disintegration
- U2 – ‘With or Without You’
- Siouxsie and the Banshees – ‘Umbrella’
- The Stranglers – ‘Golden Brown’
- The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Luna’
- Depeche Mode – ‘Love In Itself’
- Talking Heads – Remain In Light
- Björk – Debut
- Nina Simone – ‘Do What You Gotta Do’
- Moondog – ‘Pastoral’
