WEST LIBERTY, WV – Hello, and welcome back to “Footnotes,” a monthly album review column hosted exclusively on The Trumpet’s website!
My name is Matty Lamp. I am the Editor-in-Chief of The Trumpet, and I LOVE listening to music and collecting CDs and vinyl records. I am always looking for something new to listen to, and I like to take the opportunity once a month to fully immerse myself in a new album and give my thoughts.
In November, FKA Twigs released “EUSEXUA Afterglow,” a companion to her album “Eusexua” released in January of this year. I am a recently converted FKA Twigs fan, and “Eusexua” became one of my favorite albums of this year after one of my friends introduced me to some of her other projects.
That being said, I was eagerly waiting for the release of “EUSEXUA Afterglow” to see if it was simply a deluxe album with a few new tracks or an extension of the original with a whole new vibe. Thankfully, I had a fantastic time listening to this album, and it felt like a fresh rebirth of the concept of “EUSEXUA”, which Twigs said is inspired by the electronic music and club scene of Prague.
Without further ado, let’s dive into “EUSEXUA Afterglow”!
Love Crimes
She starts this album with a thumping, dark pulse and breathy, repetitive string of lyrics on “Love Crimes”, setting the scene of a techno club where you’re probably sweaty, dehydrated, covered in glitter, and trying your best to entice your crush without asking “what are we?” after the night is over.
Interestingly, FKA Twigs relates her inner thoughts and feelings to angels, which I think she uses as an ultimate test of fate (or maybe her conscience). She says, “I gotta let you know, I gotta let you go/Your body’s a death trap, precious like a teardrop/All angels are patient, dancing like you’re teasing me/You’re just too amazing” in between an intense, mysterious beat. There’s no satisfying ending, maybe as if we’re also uncertain and confused about her situationship, but it pulls us into the next song.
Slushy
This is a song where you can definitely feel Björk’s influence on this project (whether intentionally or not). We are met with twinkling synths and thick bass, with scuttling hi-hats stuffed in between. It scratches an itch in my brain and hypnotises me.
Lyrically, this song feels like a love letter to her experience as a young adult navigating her life while also feeling appreciation for her friends and the club scene that brought them together: “Things that make me smile when my world falls down/Download them from my memory/Running ’round the city with my girls feeling fine/Drop-top down, actin’ twenty-three/Wonderin’ who I am, if I can/And who I wanna be.”
Wild and Alone (ft. PinkPantheress)
I was so excited to find that FKA Twigs collaborated with one of my favorite artists, PinkPantheress (who released one of my other favorite albums of this year, “Fancy That”, which I also reviewed). PinkPantheress brought a light, dancy touch to this track to give us a break from the heavy production of the last two songs.
That’s not to say that the lyrics of this song are totally happy. Twigs and Pink talk about a partner that they wish to know on a deeper level, but there’s a disconnect in trust and emotional availability: “You’re up and down, baby, I’m just living happily/And, yes, maybe I have troubles with devotion/Only on the stage ’cause I’ve got motion/I think being famous is funny (Funny)/Told me, ‘I hate your life,’ and ‘I hate all your money.’” However, the tone of this song still feels hopeful, like there is still time to break through to their crush and maybe even be an item by the end.
HARD
Whatever you think this song is about based on the title, you are correct. “HARD” is a song that elaborates on her desire to feel her crush on a more intimate level, but this time in a more physical sense.
First off, this song feels like a PinkPantheress song in terms of its bubbly, fast-paced production and modulated, floaty vocals, which I think was the best song in this album to include right after “Wild and Alone.”
FKA Twigs’s choice of words is often simple, but not understated. She gives you a nice, direct POV into what she’s feeling in the moment, but it also feels like she’s talking to you directly: “Wet thighs, I’m ecstatic, chemistry was automatic/Don’t touch/there’s no rush, I gotta know something about you/Just tell me, would you do it hard?/Wham, bam, I think we can, a victim of your touch/Baby, it’s you, play my double-dutch” I’m blushing, Twigs.
Cheap Hotel
This is probably my favorite song off the album, and it has made its way into my song rotation. “Cheap Hotel” lets you leave the club and take a walk with Twigs through the streets in the middle of the night to eventually end up at the afterparty in her room, splurging on fruity drinks and having fun.
There’s not much to report on in terms of lyrics. This song is more of a soundscape than anything, and I love the mix of dreamy, hazy highs before you’re dropped into reality with the sudden but satisfying lows. It’s an earworm for sure.
Touch a Girl
We revisit the themes of romantic disconnect in “Touch a Girl,” where Twigs tells her crush that she likes them the way they are, and she wants them to stop putting up emotional walls.
In relation to the other songs on this album, this song feels sweet and genuine. She moves from talking about touch in the sexual sense to touch in a gentle sense: “Touch my heart, touch my waist, fix your gaze on my face/You’re the only one I ever wanna look at anyway/Did I tell you that you’re pretty when you smile?/Did I tell you that my mama kinda liked you?/Shed a skin that you’re in, shine your inner light/Be yourself, be the one the child in you would like/Maybe then, maybe, you maybe just might really touch a girl.”
Predictable Girl
A sister song to “Touch a Girl” that’s pretty short (only 2:26) and reiterates the same themes of wanting to learn about her crush on a personal level. I feel like there is a double meaning to her line “I wanna know you/Who you really are when you’re naked.” Obviously, there’s naked in the physical sense, but also in an unmasked, uninhibited sense.
She also talks about expecting too much from her crush and feeling embarrassed about fantasizing about what they could be: “Predictable girl, you’ve done it again/You followed your heart then got lost in your head/Predictable girl, you took it too far/You made up a world”…and I don’t think I can finish the line on this website (gotta stay at least a little bit professional), but you get the idea. Relatable queen.
Sushi
This is one of my other favorites from this album, and it’s a long and weird one. Twigs talks about wanting to take her crush out on a plethora of dates, and the chorus and hook are both so catchy: “Sushi on Monday/Dancing on Tuesday/Karaoke Wednеsday/I wanna take you out/Paris on Thursday/Do you like Pilates?/Work you out on Friday/I wanna take you out.” She also talks about days filled with shopping, car racing, car washes with margaritas, and Cinnabons on bikes. Sounds like a full and exciting schedule.
Also, with the song standing at 5:20, there’s a lot of time to make some twists and turns, and Twigs does just that in the last fourth. She surprises you with a drag ballroom beat with a sample of ballroom commentator Precious and instructs us to serve while Twigs repeats her third verse.
Twigs, you sound like a fun time! If you ever hit me up (never), I’ll have to learn the words to “Gasolina” for karaoke. Catch me on Duolingo or something.
Piece of Mine
Twigs slows it down for us after our pop-up dance competition in “Sushi” (which was quite the workout, I might add). We are first met with a sort of demented chipmunk speaking nonsense at us before we are picked up by her forceps and put into an anxiety-inducing test tube. But this is only temporary, because then she drops the beat and gives us an R&B groove to move to. A bit confusing, but I’m not put off by it. That’s kind of her brand, after all.
Again, Twigs talks about wanting to take this hot dance partner back to their place for some intimate activities: “Take it from the club to your living room now/Making out nice, you’re the right size/Didn’t wanna say it till I got you inside/We got no choice but to be honest/On the ride of our lives.”
Lost All My Friends
This song takes the fun that she was having during “Slushy” and flips it into a depressing mantra: “When I was on earth, I was spinning/Lost all my friends in the club/Then I lost my mind in the car/I don’t even remember who you are, you are.”
There’s not much to say about this song other than it showcases Twigs’s ability to craft an expansive soundscape and play around with making (and subverting) motifs. The sound is also very immersive, with her trademark vocal layering, ASMR-like whispers, and intricate instrumental.
Stereo Boy
The end of “Lost All My Friends” sounds like I got abducted into Twigs’s alien spacecraft, and now I’m on her examination table, cold and panicked. The production is very reminiscent of “Track 10” by Charli xcx to me (iykyk, and if you don’t, you’re in for a wild ride.)
She gives her crush her honest feelings in this song and expresses her frustration towards their apathetic and self-destructive behavior: “You want just what you said/A fast life and an empty head/I tried to catch a ride/Doors open, suicide/Look at me/I’ll let you drive mе off the edge/If I can land in your oils.” She ends the album on this empty, but somehow resolute note with an odd progression of synth notes.
There are really not a lot of people doing it like FKA Twigs. While the concept of fusing techno music and art pop isn’t new, she adds a fresh spin to both of these genres with her candid but otherworldly aura and unique production. She’s the cool girl you find at the club that offers you a shot and encourages you to let loose, and deep down, she’s also a lover girl who is just looking for affection in the wrong places.
I think most of us can connect to an aspect of this album, whether it be Twigs’s complicated relationship woes, her coming-of-age journey in the bustle of the city at night, or just simply wanting to jump around and dance at the club with your friends.
That’s all for now! If you have any suggestions for which album I should review next, email us at [email protected]. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next month!
