Heads Up is primarily an experimental record, one that furthers the adventurous spirit that was apparent from the beginning with songs such as the enigmatic and multi-tempoed ‘Elephants’, from their debut EP of 2008, Exquisite Corpse. Apparently recorded in pairs and by each band member alone, before they would get together as a band for final takes, there is a related looseness in much of the sound with ideas seemingly thrown together in a spirit of free creativity.

Whereas with their previous albums, The Fool and the eponymous Warpaint, they tended to build songs up into a moody intensity, here they also seem to be having a bit of spontaneous fun. They say they are trying to replicate the live show, which is more groove-based, improvised and danceable.

A unit that has been playing together since 2009, Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman’s post-punkish guitars, allied to Jenny Lee Linberg's snaking and plucking bass, and Stella Mozgawa's incredibly tight and big sounding drums are constantly pulling and pushing each into new grooves and directions. The rhythm section is decidedly the bedrock of the band, and here on Heads Up their chemistry reaches new and higher plateaus. Moreover, Mozgawa has embraced electronic drums (along with her 'normal' drums), and allied to some bass-heavy hip-hop beats, straightforward glam and disco strut, skittering hi-hats and general percussive inventiveness, she’e got a stylish forthrightness all her own.

It's all there on the spacious weave of lead track 'Whiteout’; Mozgawa's crystal clear drumming (thanks to the production) married to the almost fusion style of Lindberg, the guitars providing textures in the background, and the dreamy, vaguely off-mic harmony vocals the pin around which the sound swivels. "You wouldn't know it, but you're really in your prime / Is there a question not answered in your mind / For you know the answer, you're running out of time," sings Kokal on this beguiling number.

Indeed, throughout Heads Up the vocals come in and out of the mix; sometimes clear, sometimes gauzy; going their own way, but coming back to coalesce with the music, which in itself is sometimes in danger of losing itself as it breaks off here and there from the obvious grooves, before snaking back into place. It's a feature that works very well for the most part, although on occasion Warpaint get slightly tangled up in musical cross-currents, the glue not quite sticking. But these’s are rare and fleeting moments which have nevertheless been allowed for posterity, the girls’ desire to not over-think things a factor in all this spontaneity.

However, the first single from the album, 'New Song', is in danger of giving the wrong impression of Heads Up, an album that otherwise is almost invariably free-spirited and jam-based. It all begins very well with a propulsive indie-house hybrid; the steady hi-hats, bass and kick drum providing the foundations for some meaty rhythmic guitar notes, sparkly guitar lines and floaty vocals, before it's mugged by a blatant, uber-trite euro-pop chorus: "You're a new song / You're a new song baby / You're a new song to me." I have no idea what the thinking was behind this, except maybe to explicitly dumb down. But, it's a slight aberration, and forgivable in the circumstances…  

Elsewhere, the raw and unpolished Warpaint makes itself loud and clear. On songs such as 'By Your Side', one of the most experimental tracks here, glitching electronic drums co-mingle with the real deal, a nasty snare and distorted bass drum providing a noirish hip-hop vibe, while there's a spooky bar-room piano moment somewhere down the line. Weird, and mostly wonderful stuff. As is 'The Stall' (about a stalling relationship) where you can hear a distant voice say at the beginning: 'Cool, let’s do it', before the drums kick off this spacious, heady and groove dominated tune. The crisp drums are complimented by steady bass and textured guitar strokes, the band reverting back to their love of post-punk, before the groove curves off somewhat, into a little off-piste disco-funk. And they get all sultry and sexy on 'So Good', the song slowly winding its way towards some kind of ecstatic union of instruments and voices: "I want you now, I want you all over me / Can't you tell me all your secrets, I'll tell you all mine."

Like their tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. on The Fool album (via 'Biggy'), Warpaint, gets all homagey again with 'Dre', a tribute of sorts to the good doctor, the production maestro heavily identified with the synth-rich, slow and heavy beats of g-funk. Warpaint remix this sound, adding extra sluggishness to the processed beats and synths, creating a similarly dark and eerie trip-hop vibe.

There's a particular psychic chemistry at play on Heads Up, as if the band are simply jamming away at new ideas, but which have been captured on tape as final takes. Mostly it works, occasionally it doesn't, the free-spirited nature of the music leading into dead-ends (as jams often do), like a band running out of ideas, before someone interjects with a new idea and they are off and running again. Several listens are required to get under the skin of the album, one that features plenty of musical experiments and subtle add-ons to keep you engrossed and entertained.

Jeff Hemmings