FKA twigs – Eusexua (Young/Atlantic) (13th Floor Album Review)

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With her new album Eusexua, FKA twigs confirms her place as a trailblazer in avant-garde music, dance, and fashion. Musically she pushes boundaries with hypnotic rhythms, raw emotion, and stunning vocals, weaving themes of empowerment, sensuality, and transformation into a lush aesthetic landscape.

Reflecting her background as a dancer, her role at the forefront of fashion, and her recent immersion in Prague’s underground techno scene, Eusexua reaffirms her status as a boundary-crossing artist of immense significance.

Inspired by her experiences in Prague, Eusexua blends hypnotic rhythms, surreal imagery, and raw emotion into a cohesive sonic tapestry. The album title—a term FKA twigs coined —represents a state of euphoric self-awareness, and this permeates each track. The album’s soundscape, combining throbbing electronica, pulsating beats, and ethereal vocals, transcends musical boundaries while embodying a bold visual and performance aesthetic.

The album opens with the titular track Eusexua, which has the pulsing electronica of progressive house, and an urgent, swirling rhythm driven by layered synths and percussion. FKA Twigs’ vocals rise like an incantation, transforming the song into a hypnotic ritual of connection. The lyrics, “Do you feel alone? / You’re not alone,” encapsulate the album’s central themes of intimacy and transcendence, urging the listener to embrace a euphoric state beyond traditional labels of love.

This liberation seamlessly flows into Girl Feels Good, a sultry and empowering anthem celebrating feminine strength and joy. Echoing electronica builds into a pulsing rhythm, as her vocals glide with confidence and sensuality. “When a girl feels good, it makes the world go ‘round,” she sings, affirming self-worth and power through her captivating delivery.

FKA twigs balances vulnerability and defiance throughout the album. In Perfect Stranger, she embraces fleeting intimacy with playful lines like “Don’t know and don’t care,” set against a strong, punchy beat. The track’s danceable rhythms and hypnotic claps blend mystery with a celebratory embrace of the present moment. Meanwhile, Drums of Death brings a provocative edge, as strident claps and stuttering beats collide with visceral lyrics. The lyrics fearlessly explore themes of sexuality and rebellion, declaring, “Fuck who you want / Baby girl, do it just for fun,” against an industrial, chaotic backdrop. Similarly, Striptease layers ominous sounds and booming bass, gradually intensifying to mirror the seductive nature of its title.

Among the energy and excitement of the dance floor, FKA twigs has space for introspection. Room of Fools captures the disorienting yet magical energy of spontaneous connection with fast-paced electronica and echoing vocals. 24hr Dog slows the pace, offering tender reflection through nursery rhyme-like lyrics and meditative keyboards, while Childlike Things contrasts upbeat disco energy with moments of quiet reprieve, showcasing her versatility.

The album’s finale, Wanderlust, blends spoken word and swelling electronica into an emotional crescendo. Dramatic vocals and ringing notes give way to fast-paced lyrics, shaking percussion, and an uplifting outro bring the album to a triumphant close.

Eusexua is a cohesive and powerful statement that merges the visceral and the abstract, placing FKA twigs alongside icons like Kate Bush, Björk, and David Bowie, artists who have redefined artistic boundaries and challenged perceptions of identity and connection. Her integration of music, dance, and fashion—as seen vividly in the video of her London Fashion Week performance of six of these songs —demonstrates her ability to craft a holistic aesthetic experience.

Eusexua embraces the complexity of human emotion and solidifies FKA twigs as a crucial, groundbreaking artist who continues to blur the boundaries of art and music.  It is powerful exploration of what it means to be alive, demanding to be heard, seen, and felt.

John Bradbury

FKA twigs‘ Eusexua is released Friday, January 25th.

 

John Bradbury
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