FKA Twigs

LP1 (Young Turks)

Tahliah Barnett once flexed her musical talents as a background dancer from rural Gloucestershire, ending up on the fringes of Kylie Minogue videos. Her debut long-player LP1 is proof that talent can only thrive in the shadows for so long. Turn up “Two Weeks,” a chittering blend of flashbulb beats, shuttering synths, and some deep, inescapable horniness: “My thighs are apart for when you’re ready to breath in, suck me up/ I’m healing with all the shit you’re dealing, motherfucker/ Get your mouth open, you know you’re mine.” Sex and sweat drips from almost every song, mostly the malcontent, clenched-fists, just-can’t-get-enough kind. The creaked wood and skyrocketing vocals of “Pendulum” and oscillating chimes of “Give Up” both have her painfully isolated from the cure. Same with the quicksilver “Numbers” and icy club stinger “Closer.” She’s playful, but frustrated, which is what feeds the anxious beats and frantic shifts in instrumentation. You can’t always get what you want, and sometimes that feels good.

***.5

This article appears in August 22 • 2014.

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