Albums
sad day
2019
Release Date: 2019
By Thea Ballard
Reviewed November 4, 2019
The final single from Magdalene beckons a lover who’s stealing away.
Unlike FKA twigs, you most likely haven’t split from film’s third- or fourth-most famous vampire after years spent hounded by the British tabloids. But on her upcoming album, Magdalene, twigs exorcises her heartbreak with such precision and candor that the journey feels universal. Her singles to date have led us through defining stages of separation—dismay at the widening gulf in intimacy (“Home With You”), the plaintive, full-body shock that rushes in immediately after the split (“Cellophane”), and the tentative, scrutinizing spark of hope in a new flirtation (“Holy Terrain”)—all over gorgeous baroque electronics, as stunning and disorienting as these huge emotions.
Now, in “Sad Day,” the fourth teaser track before Magdalene drops Friday, twigs beckons for her lover as he steals further away. She begins with a bohemian gentleness that may just turn his head: “Taste the fruit of me/Make love to all you see,” she coaxes in her lovely falsetto, a woodland sprite urging the wanderer back into the forest. But even she must admit that shadows loom; soon enough, with a heavier and almost wry intonation, twigs allows that he’d act “foolishly” to still love her, that she’s “made him sad before.” Crackling digital effects suggest insistent rain, and a sly, scratchy bass drop pierces the optimistic haze. twigs’ co-producers on the track—Nicolás Jaar, Skrillex, Noah Goldstein, Benny Blanco—flex their thumbs in these heavy synth instrumentals. The wistful, future-shock distortion of her vocals alludes to her own defiance and anger, before she slips effortlessly back into airy entreaties. twigs’ eyes are open and her heart is tired.