FKA Twigs: EP2 12" EP Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This 12-inch EP is where FKA Twigs' sound came into focus. Her pairing with producer Arca gave the world "Water Me" and "Papi Pacify," and set up the Mercury-nominated LP1 a year later.

This edition

12" EP
33 1/3 RPM
Mastered at Alchemy

About the album

Tahliah Barnett grew up in Cheltenham, trained in opera and ballet, studied at the BRIT School and spent years as a backup dancer before she started making her own records. EP2 was her second set of songs, and the first that sounded like nobody else on earth. It came out on Young Turks, the London label that was also home to The xx.

The secret ingredient is Arca, the Venezuelan producer whose clattering, warped beats leave huge gaps for her feather-light voice. "Water Me" is the heart of it, a fragile, close-mic'd ballad set to drips and hollow thuds; "Papi Pacify" crawls along on a heavy, slow-motion groove; "How's That" builds a hazy cloud of R&B; and "Ultraviolet" closes on a shimmer. The visuals, including the famous wide-eyed "Water Me" video, were just as striking.

Years later she picked up a Grammy for Eusexua, but the blueprint is all here in four songs. It's a short record that makes a very long first impression, which is roughly the opposite of most of our staff meetings.

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