CAPRISONGS - FKA Twigs: Review

FKA Twigs

is one of the most acclaimed voices in all of contemporary R&B music. Across two studio albums she has teamed up with a world class selection of producers to create a futuristic and off kilter style of R&B entirely her own and has been met with massive critical acclaim for almost everything she's done. Caprisongs was carefully marketed as a mixtape rather than a follow-up studio album and trades out grander thematic concepts for shorter tracks that cover a wide variety of different sounds and styles.

Review By Lav:

Like most people on Earth who have ever heard FKA Twigs music I really enjoy it. A few years ago I called Magdalene a top 5 album of 2019 and in that same year called her single cellophane my single of the year. Her talent is absolutely whimsical and manages to display truly raw vulnerabilities but with a staunch and occasionally even intimidating confidence that is absolutely mystical. On top of that she has an ability to conceptualize projects that is far ahead of most of her contemporaries and a wonderful ear for talented producers making the liner notes of her albums read like a whirlwind of talent. Caprisongs is her 3rd full length project but she was sure to market it as a mixtape rather than an album and that certainly tempered my expectations. Gone is some of the conceptual consistency of her music and in its place is a desire to explore drastically different genres and styles from one song to another. Even given the talent she brings to all of these ideas they occasionally fall flat either in concept or in execution and the quality across the album varies drastically. 

If you're a longtime fan of Twiggy Stardust one thing will immediately stand out to you as you listen through the record. For someone who has always had an extremely unique sound to both her vocals and style sometimes she sounds almost shockingly like other artists in different pockets of the music industry. The weirdest one of the bunch is that when she deploys hyperpop style autotune on different songs her vocals sound so indistinguishably like Charli XCX that it's kind of ridiculous. But on other songs that borrowing goes even deeper.

oh my love is all about a relationship that isn't quite working even though Andrew Twiggins desperately wants it to. The whole thing is bookended by very memorable spoken word passages but in between you could really confuse this thing for a more relaxed M.I.A song. I actually think the track is pretty good and if it has a weakness it's that slow paced instrumental, I was still very surprised to hear how much the influence bleeds into the track. I can't believe I'm saying this but papi bones is just a Sia song with a very tame Shygirl feature placed in the middle. I was actually shocked to check the credits and see that Sia wasn't involved in the track at all since it's SUCH a dead ringer for her sound and style. The instrumental is quite dancey and has some great horns that at least keep the song lively enough to enjoy within the sequence of this mixtape. 

For an example of the Charli vocals working well look to the opening track Ride The Dragon which starts off with a back and forth style conversation between Twiggy Pop and a deeply pitched down vocal response. The chorus rides some glittery trap drums into a flashy and memorable refrain and I think it works to get you jumping from the records first moments. The Charli vocals don't translate as well on meta angel, which is a song I like for the most part but the autotune on certain parts stands out like a sore thumb. It's the first track on the record that takes a more intimate and emotional approach and while it's a personally inspiring statement I never found it to be one of the most compelling songs here.

That's most of the first half of the record but there are still a few highlights left to touch on. honda is an interesting blend of R&B styles with dark reserved vocals but an instrumental that is almost impressively punchy. The song also gets a dose of hip hop mixed in which Andre Twiguodala fits in with quite well. tears in the club was the records big lead single and it sports a Weeknd feature. The track itself is an extremely slick and utterly infectious club banger that gives them both room to express themselves on the verses before coming together for a great hook, it all fights right into the album.

While the first half of the record houses most of its bangers the second half has some of the biggest highlights in store. minds of men has the most angelic harmonies on the album and a vivid instrumental palette all of which sounds quite a bit like Magdalene. It's one of the most purely beautiful tracks on caprisongs and probably the most musically impressive song on the album. thank you song is the closing track and feels like a throwback all the way to Twiggy Azalea's debut album. It starts off with breathy vocals and a stark instrumental that builds up into a dramatic and swelling bridge and hook. It works as both a song and a closing track. 

careless is one of the most thematically interesting tracks here even if I'm not sure it translates perfectly as music. Parts of the song are absolutely chilling with soft vocals in a spacious atmosphere but when Daniel Caesar joins the track it really changes the dynamic to make use of his inherent romanticism. At the very least it's an interesting decision that adds a new dynamic to the song. darjeeling is similarly inconsistent and one of the most talked about songs online. Jorja Smith's hook has grown on me the more times I hear it both lyrically and with her girlish vocals. While the Unknown T verse doesn't really fit into the song sonically I know exactly why it's there. If you didn't already know Twiggy Koopa raps on this song and to say she lack a bit of technical proficiency would be an understatement. 

There are a number of short interludes on the record, my favorite of which is christi interlude. There are also a number of songs that are so simple and routine that they feel like interludes stretched out to two or three minutes. The worst of the bunch is probably the second single jealousy which I will expect has 7 seconds that are good enough to go viral on tik tok, but the rest of it gets pretty taxing to listen to across a full song. 

caprisongs is a mixtape in every sense and with all the positives and negatives that go along with that. The willingness to try new things on the record makes for some surprising highlights and a listen that delivers quite a bit of variety throughout. It also means that a number of these tracks have major conceptual flaws or just seem generally not as well thought out as you'd expect from an artist of Twiggy Marley's caliber. Since it's clearly meant to serve this exact purpose I'm capable of enjoying it for exactly what it is, but I'm still anticipating the next time she digs in and delivers on something more verbose, focused and conceptual. 6.5/10

Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson:

This cover is well shot, packs a lot of things into a relatively simple composition and shows off the personality of FKA Twigs perfectly. Magdalene was a super conceptual portrait that I loved and this one is much more direct. The styling is on trend and it feels like the aesthetics and creative direction wanted something that would fit in right now instead of lasting forever. While I like this image mixed in with the branding I don't think it will have the same impact as the covers for her past work. 7/10

For a lot more Weeknd, check out my review of Dawn FM here