Eusexua - FKA Twigs: Review
FKA Twigs
is a massively acclaimed singer-songwriter whose experimental takes on R&B have manifested through three studio albums up to this point. While her records LP1, Magdelene, and (spoiler alert) Eusexua are all great, she also has an array of mixtapes and EPs worth diving into. These projects can all be used to trace her development from R&B experimenter to full-on genre-bending auteur. 2019's Magdalene experimented with space and quite much more than anything she'd released before and while Eusexua has its moments of reservation. by comparison, this is an album that much prefers stuttering drum loops and and fluttering synth flourishes to chilling silence.
Given that tease it's unfortunate the only place to start with the album is its astonishing lead single and title track. "Eusexua" drew comparisons to Magdalene's lead single "Cellophane" and it's easy to see why. Both songs are astonishing in their beauty with gentle disconnected refrains that carry heaps of emotion on their back. But "Eusexua" features a much more artificial poise and when the rushes of sound bleed in on its most dramatic moments it manages to elevate the drama without being heavy-handed. I thought the song was a masterpiece last year and I still feel the exact same way now.
I also loved the other two singles starting with "Perfect Stranger." By comparison, it's a much more straightforward track but equally satisfying as it pays tribute to the unique intimacy and irresistible danger of falling for a stranger for just one night. Not only do her lyrics do a great job of portraying exactly why it's so fun, but the beat also manages to conjure the feeling perfectly. The third single "Drums Of Death" is a glitchy banger that sees Twigs completely letting loose. It has a pounding beat that takes up the entire first half of the song and seas of vocal effects that eventually rush in and drown everything.
As good as those two singles are, it's actually the other two deep cuts slipped into the record's first half that steal the show alongside the title track. "Girl Feels Good" comes first with a dark expanse of sound that reminds me os much of the production of Depeche Mode's Violator. And the DM comparisons don't stop there as the beat eventually kicks off halfway through an extremely memorable hook. It has a classic Twigs combo of experimental but irresistible all soaked in her awe-inspiring aesthetic. Somehow "Room Of Fools" is even better, and my favorite of the deep cuts. It's by far the Bjorkiest Twigs has ever sounded especially on the vocals. Her disjointed refrains clatter out into this icy expanse backed by distorted key arpeggios. The combination of that chilling energy with the irresistible heat of the drums is masterful and firmly places this among the best Twigs songs ever.
Admittedly the very BEST the album has to offer comes in the first half, but the momentum really doesn't slow down too much from there. It starts off with a pair of tracks that are distinctly more introspective than the singles. "Sticky" comes first and the title refers to sticky situations that have happened to Twigs. They play out through her own mistakes in an attempt to learn from her patterns. It's a touching track with a persistent engaging beat that eventually reaches a complete breakdown in the final 30 seconds that always catches me off guard no matter how many times I've heard it.
That's followed by "Keep It, Hold It" which deals with the internal dilemma of bottling things up. Right as Twigs' vocals start to lose their perfect poise the song has another complete breakdown into a glistening array of chimes and other vocal chaos that follows feels representative of her inner dialogues. Later on, "24hr Dog" is all about experiencing addiction to technology, but translated through the evocative language of master and servant BDSM with a splash of petplay on the side. To say it's attention-grabbing would be an understatement but it actually does a great job or relaying the level of dedication and dependence we tend to develop towards technology.
Two more highlights are "Striptease" and the closing track "Wanderlust." The former feels like a bit of an R&B throwback for Twigs with its rattling high-hats and passages where the instrumental drops out completely and her vocals take over. It's another stunning moment where her sensuality shines through and when the shift into drum & bass hits behind her vocalizing for the final minute it's again unexpected. but welcome. "Wanderlust" is a finale that wraps up so many of the record's themes in a bow with Twigs' layered melodies and a hook that feels like it's built on top of every minute of the record up to that point. "I'll be in my head if you need me" feels like so much of what the record has to say synthesized down into just a few words.
Somehow, the most talked about song on Eusexua is the one that nobody seems to like. On "Childlike Things" she trades out the Bjork influence for an equally obvious M.I.A influence on the punchy, if slightly annoying hook. It's a sledgehammer of a song and North West popping up to rap in Japanese is fun even if it makes no sense at all. The song sounds entirely different from the rest of the album and thematically feels like it has nothing to do with anything but I don't find myself hating the song like many others. Just confused by it.
Blips aside, Eusexua is absolutely stunning. Just like her two previous studio albums, Twigs and her collaborators manage to approach these songs with care and nuance, weaving compelling sounds into every twist and turn. The record is impressive not only for its experimental ideas, relentless creativity, and endless personality but also for the way it articulates and translates those features into utterly spellbinding music. For the third time in her career, FKA Twigs has proven that she's not just a visionary willing to take a sledgehammer to musical conventions, but also an auteur who takes care in picking up the rubble and using it to create something beautiful. The album that results is absolutely stunning. 9/10
For more unique singer-songwriters check out my review of Ethel Cain's Perverts
