The UK’s baddest performer, FKA twigs, is set to drop a new EP soon, and Monday on Zane Lowe, she previewed the first song, “Figure 8,” which she says in the subsequent interview was inspired by the method by which one creates hand illusions in voguing.
But “Figure 8” isn’t a vogue cut, though—it’s more consistent with her normal MO, which is to say haunting, spare synths concurrent with her operatic vocals and a counter-rhythm that sounds like a creaky gear or a bag full of nails spilling to the floor. It’s not outside of her purview one bit, but the warped rap interlude in the middle is new, and as experimental as she’s been while inching towards a new industrialism—plus, listening to it you can’t wait to see what she does with the choreography. “Let me live,” she pleads, and we can relate.