FKA twigs is the performing moniker of British dancer-turned-producer Tahliah Barnett, whose music works at the intersection of pop, RnB, trip-hop and glitch. Building on two very strong EPs, twigs’ debut full-length release, LP1, is her most intricate and gripping work to date.
The relationship between the bass-heavy spaces and breathy vocals in twigs’ music mirrors the dynamic between aggressive and passive which LP1 maps so well. Twigs’ brutally honest sexuality, which oscillates between being subservient and being dominant, pierces most of the album.
“So lonely trying to be yours, when you’re looking for so much more,” she sings sweetly on Pendulum. “I can fuck you better… Hot motherfucker, get your mouth open, you know you’re mine,” she demands on the hypnotic Two Weeks (below).
Twigs’ well-reported perfectionism shines through in LP1’s production. Complex and bone-cracking electronic percussion forms a base for her virtually weightless vocals to sit atop, with the vocals themselves bending under the music’s pressurised spaces.
“I can’t recognise me,” twigs half-whispers on the anxious Video Girl, once again marking LP1 as some of the most emotive and forthright pop in recent years.
Watch: FKA Twigs – Two Weeks
LP1 is out Friday, 8th August via Young Turks. FKA twigs is one of the acts rumoured to play Laneway Festival in 2014/2015.