FKA twigs – EUSEXUA

FKA twigs EUSEXUA review

“To go out we must go in reset. And begin again from within.” These words, in the bottom right-hand corner of FKA twigs’ official website promoting EUSEXUA, reflect a thematic preoccupation of her art: the ongoing evolution of sonic expression, physical presentation (both of costume and of the body beneath it), sexuality, and identity. 

Beneath this shapeshifting lies a foundational emotional truth—a uniform sincerity whether in the service of expressing joy, love, lust, melancholy, sadness or profound despair. Each Twigs guise and/or sonic permutation, as starkly different from one another as they may seem on the surface, is equally valid. All are necessary. All have led to EUSEXUA, an album of titanic power in which twigs crafts songs of striking beauty and vulnerability atop an assortment of electronics that other artists might employ to belie emotion. (Regarding the album’s title, briefly: Twigs defines it as “a moment so euphoric that you transcend human form.” She cites the moment before an orgasm as one example, but other answers abound in this promo for the album; my favorite is “shimmering rose petals on my skin.”)

EUSEXUA, Twigs’ third LP, might’ve sounded very different if some hacker hadn’t purloined and leaked 80-plus demos of hers in 2023. Instead, the need to start from scratch, and a move to Prague, led to a deep fascination with hard techno and related offshoots of the electronic universe. The genre’s blueprint rears its head quickly, on the opening title track: A subtle heartbeat pulse emerges around the first chorus to bolster Twigs’ arresting soprano—otherwise accompanied only by minimal synth loops and textures. Then at the 2:45 mark, the kick drum becomes louder, more insistent. Moments earlier, Twigs has asked, “Do you feel alone (lost out at sea)?” Now she’s asserting, “You’re not alone.” The track is now fully dancefloor-ready with layers of additional synths and a skittering hi-hat. Twigs is commanding, “And if they ask you, say you feel it/But don’t call it love/Eusexua.” Her voice grows more steely and confident, yet also soulful and compassionate, meant to inspire others. It’s the first moment of deep poignance on an album full of them, and it’s a clear product of the more decisive move toward the dancefloor that this album takes. 

FKA twigs and co-producer Koreless (a key collaborator of hers since 2019’s MAGDALENE) put great care into crafting these songs so they honor their inspirations without sounding dated: drum and bass on “Drums of Death” and the coda of “Striptease,” two-step garage for the sublime single “Perfect Stranger” and the Eurotechno throughout “Eusexua,” “Keep It, Hold It,” and “Room of Fools.” (Marius de Vries, Nicolas Jaar and Ojivolta also had major roles to play in the album’s sound, given the frequency of their appearance in the credits.)

Granted, EUSEXUA doesn’t exactly conform to genre rules despite its respectful homages (any more than FKA twigs’ other projects have). “Sticky” spends most of its runtime as a more sedate version of the ground twigs trod on LP1 before turning into glitchy chaos, while “Striptease” somewhat recalls the electro-industrial clangor of the M3LL15X banger “Glass & Patron.” “Childlike Things” is … well, imagine a car crash between the KLF, MC Lyte and J-pop. It’s a fun track that doesn’t quite fit this album’s distinct whole (it would’ve played better on Caprisongs) but also doesn’t derail the proceedings. All told, if anything, EUSEXUA typically sounds either timeless or 100 percent futuristic.

EUSEXUA embraces the communal spirit that reverberates throughout the best dance music, adding a new and intriguing facet to an artist whose work, at times, has been not only personal but solitary (i.e., MAGDALENE and “Cellophane,” the most devastating breakup song of the past 20 years). Take “Girl Feels Good,” which could’ve been made by Massive Attack for Tracey Thorn, Björk (for herself, in the Post era) or William Orbit for late-90s Madonna …. but also sounds like no one but twigs. When she sings, “A girl feels good and the world goes ‘round/Turn your love up loud to keep the devil down,” it’s another summation of the album’s thesis. Whether in “this room of fools” at the club, or in the bedroom, or anywhere else, EUSEXUA exhorts us to embrace one another and everything that makes us ourselves. If expressed in a trite or unartful manner, we might cringe, but when FKA twigs sings “We make something together/We’re open wounds/The beautiful untethered,” you can’t help but be moved. (Maybe literally, if this album gets into club DJs’ rotations as it should; I unfortunately don’t expect it to do much in mainstream outlets.)

In some press regarding EUSEXUA (perhaps before it had its name), FKA twigs said the album was “deep but not sad.” Hearing certain songs, like “24hr Dog” and its brutal chorus—“Please don’t call my name, when I submit to you this way/I’m a dog for you”—you might question this, but part of catharsis is confrontation. These moments have to be recognized if one hopes to reach some sort of peace, and by example, Twigs’ music is trying to show us a way forward.

Of course, you can also interpret and enjoy EUSEXUA as escapism from such thoughts. Revel in it as a soundtrack for dancing or fucking the night away (or both). For me, the album often feels like a pirated future broadcast: A radio stream informing us that while the sadness may not have ended where twigs is, it’s no longer all-encompassing. EUSEXUA is that powerful. It can bring you, even if only for its runtime, to a well of hope. That we have music this monumental so early in a new year is an incredible gift.


Label: Young/Atlantic

Year: 2025


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FKA twigs EUSEXUA review

FKA twigs – EUSEXUA

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