FKA Twigs is a contemporary auteur, the likes of which we may not have seen emerge on the scene since the Bjork of the 1990’s. There will always be the Lady Gagas and Rihannas who test the boundaries, but Twigs shifts the lens through which we view solo female artists in a sometimes confronting but wholly refreshing way. She recently released the sixteen-minute epic video to her surprise EP compilation M3LL155X that takes a journey to some strange and wonderful places.
As we get started, ageing fashion muse Michele Lamy writhes before the camera in glitchy, animalistic movements against a black screen, while industrial glitch track Figure 8 plays. The woman’s mouth is a treasure chest of gold teeth, and her fingers are blackened with sharpened nails. If you close your eyes and conjure a gypsy, this is she in all her eccentricity. A light hanging from her headdress is submerged into her mouth before the orb drifts across screen and takes us to second track I’m Your Doll.
In this scene, a blow-up doll with Twigs’ face slowly inflates in front of a salivating man who has his way with the plastic form. It’s a heaving, sweaty scene, until she is deflated on a mattress on the floor. Next, the mattress is transported to a very Alejandro Jodorowski-esque geometric setting, where a pregnant Twigs awakens for track In Time. Musically, this is the most interesting chapter with a soulful and hypnotic beat that will no doubt inspire more than a few club remixes. As the swollen Twigs moves across the floor, her waters break in technicolour with rainbow shades streaming down her legs.
The closing sequence for Glass & Patron was released as a stand alone clip earlier this year, and depicts an again pregnant Twigs pulling reams of colourful sashes from her body. These morph into a chorus of dancers that take to the runway, in a macabre show of fashion and contortion. Twigs’ vocals echo out with the line, “hold that pose for me.” It takes a moment to recover from the Lynchian visual spectacular that we have just encountered. At times haunting, at times beautiful, at times both; it’s a stellar follow up to 2014’s LP1.
You can check out our review of her live show here.
Once you have devoured the clip the corresponding EP can be streamed or purchased via iTunes.