Review Summary: FKA sad
Things that are almost always boring:- astrology
- self-help nothingisms
- vegans
- the happy follow-up album to a very sad album
Things that are definitively not boring:- astronomy
- genuine lived advice that transcends cliché
- Ethiopian food
- FKA twigs
So reads my journal on the day I first heard FKA twigs' latest mixtape,
CAPRISONGS. Just what the fuck does the term “mixtape” mean in 2022? Hell if I know. Perhaps the exec producing crew of twigs and El Guincho didn't want any trouble from the Church of Scientology's legal team regarding the 'Gettin' Jiggy Wid It' interpolation on 'honda'. Still, I don't think many mixtapes have a MIKE DEAN mixing/mastering job. Plus, it's neither unnecessarily bloated or free-of-charge. The only time that the term really feels relevant is when it's explicitly referenced as soon as you hit play. Hmm. Let's just admit that
CAPRISONGS is, for better or worse, an album. The question your irascible ass should be shouting at the screen by now is:
Is CAPRISONGS
a good album? The answer, dear friend, is mostly yes.
Gone are the ruminations on wrongs done and experienced that defined
Magdalene, and here instead is a sturdy foundation of self-love and the necessary moving on that accompanies having previously packed so much baggage, along with a big, bold throughline concerning aspiring relationships and romantic habits of twigs and her crew. Sonically, this necessitates a tightening up of
Magdalene's floaty, ethereal abstractions. We're goin' mainstream, baybee! Keep your beady little eyes on that Hot 100!
Forays into safer musical territory which straddle already blurred lines between pop, trap and RnB are saved from flavourless amalgamation into the annals of chart fodder by precisely the same factors that have neatly defined twigs' career to date: a pliable and heart-rending voice that's as affecting in a broken falsetto as in sensual spoken word, and an ear for production and collaboration that results in sounds that stride past the pace-setters of modernotony with a buttery smooth two-step.
The opening salvo of 'ride the dragon' and 'honda (feat. pa salieu)' serve as assurance that twigs knows how to keep the accessible exciting. Sharp, pristine beats flow and morph this way and that, while twigs deftly shifts melodies throughout. The vocal sample in 'honda' (which may or may not be attributed to Arca's welcome omnipresence in twigs' ouvre) softens the edges of its bass-heavy intimidation tactics to give the track some real personality.
Following this, highlights aplenty strut on by. 'meta angel' contains one of those lovely, rare instances of creatively implemented autotune. twigs proves on 'tears in the club' that she's one of very few people in the industry whose inclusion of The Weeknd on a track actually detracts from its unashamedly radio-ready quality (those lyrics could use some thorough workshopping). 'oh my love''s spoken chorus with its quarter note feel is a particularly wriggly earworm. The airy chorus of 'careless' takes on big emotive weight when Daniel Caesar pops in to add some stunning harmonies. Even wider genre influence, such as the mild reggae/dub influence on 'papi bones (feat. shygirl)' and the equally mild afrobeats/dancehall influences on 'jealousy (feat. rema)' are successful because of their gentle integration, seamlessly coinciding with twigs' established vision.
Still, the threatening vapidity of
CAPRISONGS' “the universe is powerful” nothingisms linger in the background, and some of the back-and-forths between friends in interludes hit like a gentle breeze through a closed window. An earnest streak is present in these moments, close friends simultaneously laughing with and at each other while saying things like, “you seem like a crazy girlfriend, though”. There's an endearing quality here, but as a mixtape that feels a little front-heavy, any potential trimming would start at this junction. This extends into a couple of the shorter tracks on here too, with 'pamplemousse' and 'which way (feat. dystopia)' unlikely candidates to make the list of FKA twigs songs that you burn from Windows Media Player onto a blank CD at 128kb/s.
Small blemishes aside,
CAPRISONGS is cool, calm, composed, and immediately apparent. While the idea of twigs approaching more commonplace themes and aiming for increased accessibility had me reaching for my journal with a mild pang of worry, twigs was always gonna land this plane. As a matter of fact, she probably engineered the plane, designed the airport, and sashayed down the cabin serving drinks at cruising attitude. If, like me, you were ever harbouring a parasocial worry for one of the world's most suave and multi-talented artists kicking right now, you and I were both wrong to do so. FKA twigs is doing just fucking fine, thanks.
