FKA Twigs

Sex on the surface, bass-music underneath. FKA Twigs’s second EP in two years sounds like two lovers tenderly exploring each other‘s bodies while bass drums are seeping through the apartment-walls from the downstairs club. It reminds us of Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird on »Maxinquaye«, Tricky‘s record from 1995: Just like those two, with heavy eye lids and a slow pulse, Twigs is lying next to the music, on top of it, underneath it; she breathes upon the music, fondles it or turns away. It is a narcotized kind of lovemaking, in which one part (the bass) is heavier than the other (the vocals) and still doesn‘t dominate them. But the tender-tongued flirtation only works when the music remains to be minimalistic, for which »How‘s That« and »Water Me« stand as the strongest examples: Synthesizers are wobbling along cloudily, while the percussion gets lost in the width of the track. Twigs is whispering: »So, so amazing. / I want you in my….«. Nope, there‘s no rhyme for »amazing«, the obvious remains to be implicit. Twigs leaves room for ideas – both musically and thematically. However, when the producer Arca feels the need to demonstrate why Kanye had him work on »Yeezus« and therefore takes over the whole territory, it all becomes unbalanced. The chorus of »Papi Pacify« is filled to the top with bass-lines while the percussion instruments go berserk, so that Twigs‘ vocals loose their alluring fragility and become squeaky instead. That‘s where I personally leave the intimate territory and turn to 50 Cent – true to the motto: I‘ll go back downstairs, »you can find me in the club«. Still, »EP2« is one of the most exciting sketches of this year‘s pop-music. The only question remaining is whether this tiny voice can fill a whole album.

FKA Twigs

Reviews

FKA Twigs

EP2