FKA twigs

M3LL155X

With M3LL155X – pronounced “Melissa”, and apparently code for her “personal female energy” – FKA twigs confirms the evidence furnished by last year’s LP1 that she is the most dynamic and imaginative young talent working in British pop music today.

By expanding her song topics, her song writing has become even more diverse and much tighter. The vocals still send chills down the spine and everything becomes more grand and obtuse with every song.

On M3LL155X, she does seem to be growing stronger, testing the boundaries between light and unfathomable darkness, the breathtaking and the nauseating. 

The songs lack centers, or even hooks, and aren't easily assimilated, but unmistakable themes emerge: Through a feverish haze of sounds and sights, M3LL155X asks big questions about femininity, sex and power.

The effect of the album is soothing and challenging all at once; full of complex messaging yet equally suitable as backdrop for studying; worthy of lingering concentration on each and every note or dozing off to on an airplane.

It's twigs' most experimental offering yet, and a good sign she won't be streamlining her sound for something more accessible (and less exciting) on her sophomore full-length.

At a time when twigs’ reality is becoming more and more public ... the challenge of teasing audience expectations and controlling an artistic persona would seem far greater. With this EP, twigs pulls it off expertly, fracturing and blurring her musical self.