LP1 is the debut album from British singer-songwriter FKA twigs, real name Tahliah Barnett. She originally was a backup dancer for artists like Kylie Minogue, Jessie J, and Ed Sheeran, but even before that she was always very much interested in music. She took opera lessons when she was a child, which can be heard in her very impressive vocal range. I’ve known about her for a while now, and I’ve heard a decent amount of her songs, but since this album reached its tenth anniversary this year, and since she’s got an album coming out next year, I think it’s a perfect time to review this record.

    We open up the album with a trippy, dark, but very brief intro track, “Preface.” It’s very industrial and chaotic sounding, which seems very intentional given the haunting main refrain, “I love another, and thus I hate myself.” It’s a great tone-setter for the rest of the album. Following that, is the intimate, but very melancholy track, “Lights On.” I really like the themes and production of this track, the chorus is mostly the line, “When I trust you, we can do it with the lights on,” but the song is much deeper than that. Barnett knows that the guy who wants to sleep with her is putting on a front, and she doesn’t know if she can trust him, hence the chorus. The lines of the song that I really like are, “You’ll be the first one to find. The shadows that make the girl you undo. ‘Cause the man that you are is defined. By the way that you act in the light.” It’s incredibly clever, and many people who don’t really analyze lyrics would just assume its a song about sex, when in reality, it’s about trusting someone. Another favorite of mine is one of the singles, “Two Weeks,” which is a psychedelic-sounding sex track. This time the track is absolutely about intimacy, which isn’t a bad thing at all. The writing isn’t as deep as the previous track, but it’s a beautiful track with the fuzzy synth production and hard hitting snares. Barnett’s vocals sound absolutely gorgeous on this one, too.

    I like how dark the song, “Hours,” is as well. Barnett’s falsetto vocals and love-sick lyrics seem to describe a passionate relationship, but the lyrics are actually really unsettling and creepy. It’s meant to be that way as she’s singing from the perspective of an obsessive girlfriend, the swirly production and disturbing atmosphere of the track really make me uneasy, and I absolutely love it. The obsessive and possessive partner isn’t a new concept in art, but I feel like Barnett’s voice and writing is really good at catching the listener off guard. “Pendulum,” to quote her in words, “It’s saying, ‘It’s really lonely trying to exceed your expectations when I don’t know what you expect me to be.” The flipping of pet names that she found cute, she now finds to be hurtful. The lyrics are heartbreaking as well. “So lonely trying to be yours. Running through sliding doors. So lonely trying to be yours. When you’re looking for so much more.” “Video Girl,” is a very personal and self-reflective track as when she sings the chorus, “Was she the girl that’s from the video?” It sounds like she’s speaking from the perspective of another woman, but she’s singing about how she desperately wants to put that part of her career in the past, instead she wants to be known for her singing and songwriting talents. “Numbers,” has some of the most unsettling production on the entire record, as the bell synths sound like something out of the video game, Majora’s Mask. The question of, “Was I just a number to you?,” is directly asking her love interest in the song if he just sees her as another sexual partner out of many, rather than someone he’s actually interested in. I like the phases the production goes through, as well as the disturbing lyrics, as she ends up straight up killing the guy. Some other highlights on the album for me were “Kick,” which is a sensual track about waiting around for the one she loves when they’re not around, “Closer,” which sounds angelic and a lot happier than most of the album,  and “Give Up,” which is about trying to desperately fix and improve a rapidly deteriorating relationship.

     I don’t know how I missed out on this album as a teenager in 2014, as this record was and still is, incredibly groundbreaking and genre-defying. It’s industrial, experimental, dark, depressing, and euphoric, all at once. FKA Twigs’ voice is incredibly gorgeous and haunting, and really conveys a wide range of emotions and themes. It’s unlike anything that I’ve ever heard, and it’s actually really hard to place this album, as well as the rest of her music into any one genre. I love the production of this album which was mostly handled by Twigs and Emile Haynie. She has such a unique sound that stands out and sticks with you long after you’ve finished the album. Some of the tracks are a bit on the long side, if I had to complain, and I felt like the track, “Preface,” is a necessary tone-setter for the rest of the album, but it’s probably my least favorite, because the rest of the album is just so much stronger in comparison. I’m very much likely to review the rest of her catalog, as her second album, Magdalene, reached it’s fifth anniversary earlier this month, and her third album, Eusexua, which comes out next January.

Overall Score: 9/10

Favorite Tracks: “Lights On,” “Two Weeks,” “Pendulum,” “Video Girl,” “Numbers,” “Kicks,”

Least Favorite Tracks: “Preface,”

Listen: https://youtu.be/3yDP9MKVhZc?si=sT5hn5iEFgA9Lrgt

Genres: Art Pop/Electronic/Trip Hop