FKA twigs’ can energize the bleakest of winters with her highly-anticipated dance album “EUSEXUA.”
Despite “EUSEXUA” being only her third studio album, twigs shows off her well-defined artistic muscles by hopping onto the dance music trend in her signature sparkly and otherworldly way.
The 11-track journey through the world of “EUSEXUA” — a word twigs coined herself — peels back the layers of the human soul to reveal the pulsing beats and distorted vocals at its core.
“‘EUSEXUA’ is the pinnacle of human experience,” twigs wrote in an Instagram post announcing the album in September. “It is my opus and truly feels like a pin at the centre of the core of my artist.”
The title track and lead single is a gateway from a horrifyingly dull world into one of transcendent authenticity.
Its steady heartbeat pulse pulls you in before twigs’ tender voice cradles you in its chorus: “Do you feel alone?” twigs sings, alien-like coos echoing through the background. “You’re not alone.”
The song has had four months to enchant us, eager to discover the latest world twigs created, and that world is sonically rich and endlessly deep.
All of the songs on “EUSEXUA” will have your head bobbing and will energize your walks through the bitter cold.
The third track, “Perfect Stranger,” released as a single in October, is more sonically grounded in club music, reminiscent of Kylie Minogue’s 2001 hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”
But there’s a reason why that song has stood the test of time — it’s catchy.
FKA twigs doesn’t stay grounded for long as “Perfect Stranger” gives way to the unintelligible, distorted sounds and heavy beats of “Drums of Death,” featuring British DJ Koreless.
As implied by its title, “EUSEXUA” deals with sex, but it elevates its meaning instead of deflating it, as popular music often does.
“Feel hot, feel hard / Feel heavy, f— who you want / Baby girl, do it just for fun,” twigs sings on “Drums.”
It’s an erotic statement that feels empowered and hungry, not pornographic and oversaturated like it’s trying to sell you something.
Even when twigs does talk about submitting to someone in “24hr Dog,” she’s choosing to do so out of her own desire for vulnerability, not because of any external force.
Twigs evokes the original weird music girl Björk in “Room of Fools” with emphatic growls and yelps and a wide vocal range.
The track’s pitched-down crooning, swaying to a gentle beat in the outro, sounds like nothing twigs has ever done before.
The only questionable point comes with “Childlike Things,” featuring none other than Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s 11-year-old daughter North West.
West raps in Japanese during the second verse, introducing herself and then professing that “Jesus is the one and only true God.”
The embedded Christianity, while not problematic on its face, feels oddly out of place yet also fitting, given the album’s spiritual themes.
As we depart “EUSEXUA” with the gospel-like “Wanderlust,” the album’s ethos is put in plain terms.
“You’ve one life to live, do it freely,” twigs tells us. “I’ll be in my head if you need me.”
Ultimately, “EUSEXUA” is yet another record that adds depth to dance. Dancing is more than what we do during our hard-won downtime. It’s how we can leave the drab office that is our current world and rediscover our bodies and spirits.
“EUSEXUA” means peeling off your clothes with a stranger, and it means letting someone peel back the layers of your mind.
Over the years, twigs has traversed several styles within the electronic genre, from baroque in “Magdalene,” then to hip-hop in “CAPRISONGS,” and now to dance in “EUSEXUA.”
Many artists have so-called “eras,” but twigs’ have always felt authentic, drawn from a deep well of creativity that appears to be never-ending.
Pav Garbis
Jan 28, 2025 at 10:09 am
I love this album!! Great review, rise Eusexuals! We are stronger together