FKA Twigs - EUSEXUA Review
FKA twigs has truly blessed us with Eusexua. Stick it on and get ready for the rave.
Three years since her mixtape Caprisongs and five years since her last studio album Magdalene, loyal fans of FKA twigs have had their fingers crossed for a new album, and the visionary artist has delivered a masterpiece, well worth the wait. Eusexua arrives at a dark point in January, just in time to lift our spirits about the year ahead. Eusexua is a concept she came up with to explain the euphoria of being in the middle of the rave or she says, it could be the feeling just before an orgasm.
The album is intrinsically connected to dance culture. After moving to Prague to complete filming on The Crow, twigs said she fell in love with techno after hearing it in the clubs there and was inspired to write Eusexua. Twigs explains that, although Eusexua isn’t actually techno, it captures the spirit. As a dancer herself, twigs understands what it takes to make music danceable. The album takes us on a journey through a deconstructed rave and leaves us with the full spectrum of a night out clubbing, all the way from getting ready to the afters.
The dancefloor feeling of the tracks is so tangible while the genres blend and flow between garage, drum & bass to the almost pop on Perfect Stranger while pulling in trip hop and IDM influences into the mix. We still get that mind bending, genre warping production that sets FKA twigs apart from her pop princess contemporaries but this feels like she’s pushing her music in a new direction. Her ethereal voice floats over innovative beats from producer Koreless – everything we’ve come to expect from twigs while still giving her fans something so new.
Even FKA twigs can surprise her fans though. Hearing North West rapping in Japanese was definitely not what I was expecting from Eusexua, but West proves her creative potential joining twigs on fun and bouncy Childlike Things. Some of the tracks on Eusexua are stronger than others. Sticky, Drums of Death and Room of Fools are standouts. Room of Fools was reportedly written in the bathroom of a club while Koreless wrote Drums of Death on the way to play a set at the Berghain. Both of these are the best on the album at capturing the club spirit while maintaining the production level twigs has become known for. Striptease is another highlight for me. Just when you think you know where the song is going it opens into a drum & bass beat, forever keeping her fans on their toes.
As ever, twigs bares her soul in this music, especially the gentler tracks including 24hr Dog and Sticky. She delves head first into themes other artist wouldn’t dream of writing about. It’s no wonder her fans feel so connected to the star as she gifts them such insights into her life. In between the dancefloor feelings, twigs shares some of her deepest vulnerabilities. Although not hitting the emotional depths of Magdalene, it still feels so special to be able to see so clearly how twigs has come to write these tracks and the thoughts behind them. The ultimate shapeshifter, first as a dancer and now as a musician, FKA twigs has truly blessed us with Eusexua. Stick it on and get ready for the rave.