- British musician FKA twigs has been making waves around the world since the release of her early EPs in 2012 and ‘13. They laid the groundwork for some of the sonic experimentation that she would present over her coming releases. Her debut studio album LP1 was met with overwhelming acclaim as was follow-up EP M3LL155X. twigs’ cross-genre, medium-bending performance art is on a level of its own. Expectations couldn’t be higher for new album MAGDALENE and as though twigs were admitting all that attention is a bit much to bear by herself, she brings a fresh cast of collaborators: Jack Antonoff, Cashmere Cat, Nicholas Jaar and Skrillex, among others. So, does MAGDALENE live up to the dark, trip-hop pop of LP1? Or does it collapse under the weight of hype?
MAGDALENE as it turns out, presents an emotionally realised and versatile album that flip-flops between a modest, brooding experience, and a vicious sonic nightmare. For the most part FKA twigs pulls this off wonderfully. First single Cellophane has been out for six months now and it sounds as fresh as ever. A bit of a gamble for an artist that has built her audience around haunting production choices, it Incorporates minimal production and is undoubtedly the rawest, most stripped-back song of twigs’ career.
Beyond Cellophane, every other track on MAGDALENE presents the boundary pushing, eerie pop I’d hoped twigs would continue to deliver. Album opener Thousand Eyes presents screeching synths, distorted vocals and drums that culminate in really bold noise-pop. Title track Mary Magdalene is absolutely harrowing, with moments of unsettling, ambient production at both the outset and chorus that would be more fitting in the score for a film like Hereditary or Suspiria. Home With You takes a similar approach to the title track, presenting a bone chilling quality you’d expect to hear back on the M3LL155X EP. Halfway through, still soundtracking, the number transforms into the distorted caricature of a Disney animated film like Sleeping Beauty; disturbingly effective.
MAGDALENE isn’t a perfect record however. The track Holy Terrain is a mess. Though twigs’ vocals are as good as ever, the production -beyond some intriguing horns- leaves a lot to be desired. Trap beats and a lazy Future feature just don’t suit this project, and the song comes across as a jarring, half-baked attempt to make a commercially successful single, except it isn’t at all accessible. It’s almost refreshing, in a way, to hear an FKA twigs song that isn’t great. It helps create a sensation that MAGDALENE is exposing a more human quality, usually hidden behind her intimidating avant garde persona.
This humanity buzzes through every track, but especially the album’s second half. Fallen Alien finds twigs coming to terms with her imperfections and weirdness; Mirrored Heart is lyrically reminiscent of moments in Lorde’s Melodrama, but as it expands and twigs emotional vulnerabilities come to light, the track is torn apart by violent instrumentation. The effect is beautiful.
MAGDALENE embraces calm and chaos in equal measure and, despite a weak track in the middle, it comes across as twigs’ most heartfelt project yet. Concluding the album with Cellophane shows that FKA twigs’ wants her humanity to be a lasting impression, deeper than the experimental production: she wants listeners to know she’s human. In that she succeeds, in a way she has not before.
- Sean Tayler.