The phrase “The Warping” evokes ideas of metamorphosis, fluidity and distortion. Glaswegian five-piece Walt Disco's sophomore album explores profound questions of gender identity and self-conception across 12 tracks in what they call their “most biographical body of work to date.” While their 2022 debut, Unlearning, arrived armed with an already compelling and highly distinctive sound, The Warping pushes the boundaries even further. Orchestral flourishes of woodwinds, brass and strings elevate tracks like “Gnomes” and “Weeping Willow” to the heights of operatic grandeur, while other tracks feature groovy guitar lines and more industrial textures (“You Make Me Feel So Dumb” and “Black Chocolate,” respectively).
Addictive hits of glam rock and New Romantic synth-pop may be the band's lifeblood, but they've never abandoned their roots. “Come Undone” is a plaintive banger that could rival Depeche Mode's best, while the triumphant “The Captain” imagines what Bowie might sound like dancing with '90s Britpop James. But it's the sonically modest cuts that pack the strongest lyrical punch. “Jocelyn,” named after vocalist Jocelyn See, is as life-affirming and evocative as it is deeply moving. Or the title track, where feelings of gender dysphoria are most forthrightly expressed (“My jealousy / It surrounds me / It tears me apart / It's trying to take the air I breathe / I love jealousy / And its corrupted face / Taunts me as I dream / What I wasn't born to chase”). Camp but never cliché, paying homage to its predecessors without straying too far into pastiche, “The Warping” is Walt Disco's testament to the wonderful multi-faceted nature of being beyond duality.