FKA twigs and the Magdalene Principle
For sure, FKA twigs knows how to turn a sad day into a great day, not simply by releasing a hotly anticipated follow-up album to 2014’s LP1, but enticing us to (once again) fall in love with her tender, lilting voice. Of course, that’s not all there is to this iconoclastic musical powerhouse. Her abstinence from trite formulaic melodies continues on Magdalene, taking disparate sounds and musical genres and constructing songs that are as eclectic as they are pleasing to listen to. This album delivers far more than I expected in the most amazing of ways.
In “sad day”, somebody’s done somebody wrong, but that somebody’s working hard to make it right:
“I can imagine a world when my arms are embraced around you
I lie naked and pure
With intentions to clench you and take you
The city howls with a cry to seduce you and claim you
So it's time”
While the theme of the song may be familiar territory, it’s the phrasing, tone, and intense expression of passion that hits you right in the aorta. But that is FKA twigs’ gift. Unlike her peers in the music industry, I’m convinced that every song she composes and sings, she feels. Her songs aren’t written for radio, they aren’t structured to produce a “hit”. You believe her because you feel it too, with every fiber of your being.
Magdalene is a brilliant work of art, and while I don’t have any favorites, I find “Lady Magdalene” to be the most poignant. Women are often characterized by men as either sinful or saintly; sluts or saints. The fact that they are both of these things causes most of us who have been indoctrinated by patriarchal religiosity, to experience a cognitive dissonance we are unable (or unwilling) to process. In the song, FKA twigs lets us know that redemption can be found in accepting women for who they truly are, and embracing the duality of human nature which ultimately leads to the fluidity of imperfect/perfect existence. In other words, in order for men to be whole, we must renounce outmoded ideas of what it means to be woman/man/human. The reference to the biblical Mary Magdalene is the perfect metaphor for this song, as Mary was herself characterized much in the same way women are characterized today.
Magdalene hasn’t changed frequencies, like her previous releases, it still remains simultaneously rooted in the corporeal and spiritual. But the frequency resonates stronger with this album. There’s no denying you’ll enjoy it while listening, but the experience doesn’t compare to allowing yourself to open up and feel every lyric, every note, every sound. Your soul will thank you for it.
Follow this link to stream FKA twigs.
