FKA twigs, British singer, songwriter, and
producer, entered the scene in late 2013, with her full length debut “LP1” blowing up. Tahliah Debrett
Barnett’s debut featured intense vocals and pounding drums, alongside with an
incredibly well polished production. LP1 was a nice addition to the musical
world, receiving rave reviews from a broad array of press outlets. However, one
thing never really clicked with Barnett for me, it was all too much. The strain in her vocals was seemingly over-emphasized
and by the end of the album I felt very tight and tense, but perhaps this is
her point? To induce a feeling of discomfort?
It seems this theme is
a constant for Barnett, especially on her latest release, M3LL155X. The 18
minute EP features far more distorted vocal samples, and with a
Transformer-like synthesiser variations going throughout the opener “Figure 8,”
it is all very tense and strained. The opening synth sounds like a
terrifying alarm you’d rather not wake up to – as you’d probably shit yourself.
Similarly, Barnett’s vocals and the pounding kick and whistling, circling synth
all add up to create an absolutely huge opener. Track two, “I’m Your Doll,” is equally as tense,
with the ominous drums and highly modified vocal samples opening the track.
However, about 45 seconds into the song, her vocals truly open up, and we are
introduced to the repeating motif of “I’m your daghhlll.” The accompanied film
clip for this track features Barnett in a plastic form, namely, as a doll.
Clever, hey.
The tense vocals
continue throughout the chorus, and popping snares accompanied with dark,
twisted and ominous synthesisers add to the incredibly tense track. However,
the repetitive vocals do lose their expressiveness after perhaps the seventh
time, let alone the seemingly 500th time. Essentially – the constant
“I’m your duaaaaollllllllll” just becomes annoying.
“In Time” follows suit to its tracks prior – intense, strained vocals accompanied
with huge kicks and even trap inspired beats littered throughout. This is hardly
music you put on before bed. This is music you put on when walking through a
retrospective exhibition of some artist at some underground gallery in Berlin
that you totally wouldn’t have heard
of before… it’s so contemporary and overworked that it honestly sounds like
it’s from Mars.
“Glass and Patron” features incredibly intimate vocals; with
Barnett’s whisper discussing being “fucked” and demanding one to “hold that
pose for me.” The vast array of elements in this track re-emphasise the drama
going on in this track. There are just so
many elements, and they all work very well together – surprisingly. Given the
amount of instruments featuring on even one song, this album could have very
easily become an overworked, oversaturated mess.
The album maintains
its raw intensity from start to end, with every minute building and building to
create this immense work. The force behind this EP, however, becomes quite
overwhelming - it is simply too intense, and it loses its practicality because
of this. Walking to the metro with this album on would seem like you’re walking
in the year 2115 with the latest release from MC Ride’s distant relatives. Not
that that’s a bad thing, though… It’s a new and refreshing. Her overly strained
vocals that sounded like she was recording in the middle of a constipated shit
that featured in LP1 are now exchanged for a confident, relatively unstrained
and talented singer. If the hype surrounding LP1 wasn’t enough - M3LL155X will
surpass it, even at third of its length.
Words by Matt.
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