Jenny Lee Lindberg has long been the best-known member of Warpaint – she’s the subject of adoring ‘fuckyeahjennyleelindberg’ Tumblr pages and idolised by indie boys such as Birmingham band Swim Deep, who once sang, “I wanna pretend Jenny Lee Lindberg is my girlfriend”. Musically, though, she has kept a low profile, contributing hypnotic bass grooves and occasional vocals to Warpaint songs but, by her own admission, lacking the confidence to find her own voice.
With her debut solo album right on!, that has finally changed. The record sounds much as you might expect a solo album by Warpaint's bassist to sound like, especially once you discover that she grew up on post-punk acts such as Joy Division, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. While much of Warpaint's appeal is based on multi-part harmonies and intricately intertwining guitars, right on! strips everything back with a minimal, somnolent sound that places the emphasis squarely on bass and drums – mainly provided by Warpaint's excellent drummer Stella Mozgawa.
The hazy, dreamlike mood is augmented by Lindberg's voice, which only rarely rises above a breathy moan, but which serves these spare, intriguing songs well. Chief among them is boom boom, a sinister come-on that rides on a nagging, blank-eyed groove – "Can you feel me shake by body from left to right?" Lindberg teases. That's followed by never – the loveliest moment on the album – featuring chiming guitars and a rhythm section straight from the New Order playbook.
Best of all, there's genuine menace on white devil, where Lindberg is joined by her close friend Kris Byerly for a tense – ultimately explosive – male- female exchange.
white devil echoes one of Warpaint's great strengths – the way in which their songs morph and develop in unexpected and exciting ways. An unassuming little album, right on! could maybe do with a little more of that approach. But in keeping things deliberately minimal and compact, Lindberg has staked out an addictive patch of sound – and found her voice.
