Pounding electric bass. Neon lights strobing across the curvatures of moving muscle, flexing and softening in rhythmic tandem. Delicate and flowering falsetto melodies. Strangers coalescing in states of hedonistic dynamism. Violent snaps of the drum, spurting its vibrational heartbeats across the dancefloor. Choral pleas for unfamiliarity and euphoric authenticity pounding beneath the bounding footsteps, twirling in luminescent pleasure. Amidst the gritty atmosphere of dancing forms and synthetic song, FKA Twigs questions: “Have you experienced eusexua?”
On Jan. 24, FKA Twigs released her third studio album, EUSEXUA. An exploration of the artistic body and self, Twigs experimented with pure techno sounds on the record following her temporary residence in Prague. Inspired by the effervescent physicality and bodily surrender of the city’s club scene, Twigs made its auditory influence the underlying theme of her album. It was a landscape so undefinable that she crafted an entirely new vocabulary for describing its transcendental qualities, which led to the creation of words like “EUSEXUA.” Twigs’ unending inventiveness, both linguistically and musically, invites the listener to explore this world on her terms, replicating the ethereal quality of her life-altering experiences and the eusexual essence of life waiting to be unlocked.
In conversation with Imogen Heap, Twigs discussed the process of creating her records, explaining: “I started to think about—when making the album—these 11 pillars that hold up EUSEXUA. And the 11 pillars were aspects of my life that I felt, if I looked at and if I made adjustments to, then I could be closer to EUSEXUA. And for me, EUSEXUA is creating, purely and unabashedly. It’s feeling more comfortable in my body sexually. It is being more present and being able to be at that pinnacle of experience.”
Throughout the tracks, Twigs lyrically expresses her desire to be fully understood by another person. She longs for this sense of anonymous intimacy, of surrendering the soul to a stranger as a means to fill the concavities of loneliness that plague her form. In perhaps what is the most emotional track on the record, “Sticky,” she laments, “My body aches to be known / To be expressive in itself / I want to forgive myself / I want to release myself from the pain I have inside.” It’s an understated ballad situated amongst the electronically rapturous tracks that surround it, reflecting on the struggle of finding the inner core of personhood through bodily exploration. The track drifts between acoustic restraint and robotic climax, almost mirroring the nonlinear cycle of selfhood—the ebbing anxieties and simultaneous softness that accompanies life.
At the heart of the record, FKA Twigs asks: Can we find EUSEXUA in all aspects of life? The “Drums of Death” music video certainly shows its pre-existing presence in corporate culture. Even in the scenery of pin-striped greys, clacking keyboards, and glitching emails, one can still assume a being of unabashed authenticity. The corresponding track finds itself at the heart of the record’s utterly combative and dynamic sound; its rupturing instrumentation and skipping electronic vocals practically necessitate a responding movement in its listening. Whether clad in club clothes, khakis, or black tie, one can submit oneself to the unconstrained nature of Twigs’ songwriting to embrace this transcendental essence of being.
The current discourse surrounding this album tends to gloss over the powerful intentions of its whole, instead vocalizing singular criticisms for the song “Childlike Things,” which features North West. Though it’s hard to deny the mediocrity of the track, it should not overshadow the spiritual beauty of all else. We can instead take it as a lesson to encourage children to perhaps find creative solace in a private journal.
The alluring grittiness of EUSEXUA allows listeners to enrapture themselves in pure states of ethereal reflection. FKA Twigs’ creations are undeniably unique and purely authentic to her person. With one of the most astonishing and stunning cultural voices in the world, she is an artist in output and life.
