If “cellophane” was FKA twigs’ exercise in minimalism, “home with you” — the third single from the forthcoming MAGDALENE — finds the singer at her most maximalist. Continuously building much like 2014’s “Pendulum,” the track transforms from a sinister, distorted dirge into an airy, operatic ballad about devotion; the first half is supported by synthesizers and faint piano, while the second half is a delicately layered vocal laid atop prominent wind and string instruments. Playing out like a two separate movements in a symphony, twigs embodies both extremes exceedingly well.
The beginning of the track is quite grim, twigs’ vocals vocodered beyond recognition as she details the lengths she would go for her partner, culminating in declaring she’d “die for [them] on [her] terms.” As she moves deeper into the song, the singer’s lyrics and inflections become more aggressive, snarling through lines in the pre-chorus like “the more you pull away the more that they depend on you” and “I wonder if your needs are even meant for me.” She pulls herself back into the doting lover of the verse during the chorus, her voice piercing through the central lyric “I didn’t know that you were lonely/if you’d have just told me, I’d be home with you.” Mimicking the sensation of flying that comes from a tender love such as theirs, “home with you” shows twigs is still interested in pushing boundaries in her own artistry.
Rating: 5/5