Somewhere between the drums of war and the drums of disco falls The Fool by Los Angeles’s Warpaint. Personal, dark, and pointed directly at you are the siren-song vocals and lyrics. This album is full of strong, smart songs that both accuse and include the listener. These mixed feelings are accented by aggressive, churning bass and percussion performances. The parts of this album combine to form a moving, worried and fast-paced album, highlighted by some truly smart musical transitions, especially in “Composure” which slips effortlessly between a school-yard chant over a sleepy shuffle and a frantic and mumbling disco, with yelps of “how can I keep my composure?” and then right back.

The album takes a breath for the pastoral acoustic waltz, “Baby”. It is basic and lovely, and kind of a welcome lull, after most of an album of pummeling and high-octane darkness. The album creeps back into pace with the distorted bleeps and long, soaring ache of “Majesty,” the album’s longest track, which makes good use of its real estate by leaving the dramatic changes of the earlier album tracks behind, in exchange for the more subtle changes of long-form electro (sort of). The album comes to rest on the piano/beat-based “Lissie’s Heart Murmur” which feels like an exhausted wind-down, in a good way. We’ve been through a lot on this album, and while they don’t seem to be holding back, it’s a realistic ending. It is a lush, winding finale, ending with the beautiful layers of wet harmonies that have led the charge all the way through.

Automatic classic: “Undertow”