During her time filming for the upcoming remake of The Crow, UK singer-dancer-actress-writer FKA Twigs confronted her darkness in a way she hadn’t for quite some time. The thematic concerns of a story like The Crow made it inevitable for the lead actress to have to delve into those parts of herself, and rather than recoil – she fell in love.
Eusexua, the lead single off the upcoming album of the same name, is an ode to the artist from the artist herself (or rather, to the artist’s process). Its title, a lofty piece of nomenclature, is a word invented by Twigs to describe “the pinnacle of human experience, that feeling when you’ve been dancing all night and you lose seven hours to music. It’s also if you meet somebody that you really like, and you just kiss all night, and you kiss for all hours. You lose time.” This hefty framework is possibly Eusexua’s biggest downfall – the magnitude of the concept far outweighs what the song is capable of supporting over its four and a half minute runtime. Still, Twigs is totally committed to taking the swing – and for the most part, it pays of.
Eusexua finds itself occupied with those moments of temporal uncertainty that Twigs describes. Pulling from elements of melodic techno and hypnotic trance, Eusexua is in a constant state of build-up. The track grows from a pulsing bassline and urgent strings, anchored by tender piano chords and moments of off-kilter harpsichord flourishes that feel like moments of enlightenment as we trace Twigs having an idea in real time. Eartheater provides siren-like backing vocals, aquatic clicks and wails that form an amorphously sensual backdrop for Twigs to ooze all over.
The climax is not so much an outburst than it is an embrace – Eusexua never explodes, rather it radiates into the space around you, absorbing itself under your skin. Compositionally, it’s stunningly realised, showcasing a side to producer Koreless that feels fresh to his oeuvre. It’s a first taste with infinite replay value that leaves us in eager anticipation for whatever might come next.
