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Twisted

Johanna Warren

2020

Twisted

Release Date:  2020

By Pitchfork

Reviewed April 29, 2020

On her explosive new single, the Portland-based artist finds clarity in refusal.

The next time you’re reeling after a fight—eyes soaked and lips trembling, mind workshopping your monologue for the next go-around—listen to Johanna Warren. The Portland artist’s fifth album, Chaotic Good, is about setting fire to a history of codependent relationships. “Twisted,” her latest single, is unusually explosive. Warren usually sings in a sweet, lilting style, but on “Twisted” her voice climbs higher and higher, slowly crescendoing from a blank drone to a brutal scream. “Can’t you see how much I adore you?/I know I could never save you/But I was born to,” she yells at a former lover, while the guitar drills down in intensity. Her exasperation is so palpable that you can imagine the ex-lover treading backward, cowering at her fury. These are not the musings of a wide-eyed novice. She announces her refusal with the type of clarity that emerges only after a lifetime of rehearsal: “I will not be displaced/By how much I love you.”

8:00 PM · Apr 29, 2020 · 1 Views