LP1
by FKA twigs
  • Record Label: XL
  • Release Date: Aug 12, 2014
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 38 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
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  1. Pretty Much Amazing
    Aug 11, 2014
    100
    Twigs’ superb vocal melodies anchor LP1’s flights of experimentation. Were they to be stripped from the album’s bizarre flourishes and dropped into a commercial R&B context, they would stun nonetheless.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Aug 7, 2014
    100
    She exerts enough of a magnetic pull to lure listeners into some challenging territory.
  3. The Independent (UK)
    Aug 5, 2014
    100
    FKA Twigs emerges the high priestess of R&B's latest corruption, and the world will kneel at the altar.
  5. The 405
    Aug 5, 2014
    100
    You don't have to be a strict devotee of the R&B underground genre to realise that this is a great album. The sound is her own, and she's capable of making an album work as an album rather than just a collection of songs.
  6. Paste Magazine
    Aug 12, 2014
    92
    With both immediate appeal and density that demands long-term digestion, it’s one of those rare debuts that manifests a fully-grown, deeply engaging sound.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Aug 12, 2014
    91
    Few debuts possess such control and ambition all in one; LP1 is the rare album that manages to sound both lived in and completely futuristic.
  8. HipHopDX
    Aug 21, 2014
    90
    In sum, the mysterious Tahliah Barnett has created a devastatingly beautiful and industrial debut.
  9. Spin
    Aug 12, 2014
    90
    In its menacing incandescence, LP1 sounds like nothing else in the world right now.
  10. Exclaim
    Aug 11, 2014
    90
    LP1 is a fantastic debut from an artist who is quickly becoming the curator of her own mental museum.
  11. The Line of Best Fit
    Aug 8, 2014
    90
    This longform escapade is the real McCoy, and where the magic happens. The honeymoon period is over.
  12. Drowned In Sound
    Aug 5, 2014
    90
    Confidently frail and hesitant, LP1 is a refreshing reaction to, and a calm assault upon, the unfathomably fast-paced total noise of the current age.
  13. Pitchfork
    Aug 11, 2014
    88
    FKA twigs is not a masterful lyricist, at least not yet; some of her couplets feel clunky, like she's grasping in the dark for rhymes and coming up with the objects closest to hand ("If the flame gets blown out and you shine/ I will know that you cannot be mine"). But when she zeroes in on the essence of a thing, she hits hard.
  14. Under The Radar
    Aug 15, 2014
    85
    This might be FKA twigs' first full-length, but it demands attention.
  15. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Aug 12, 2014
    83
    A tangle of influences and contemporaries; yet she manages to keep space in which her frail breath of a singing voice can survive.
  16. Consequence
    Aug 11, 2014
    83
    LP1 isn’t anything revolutionary; it’s a frankly expressed project focused on the dualism between love and lust, reality and fantasy.
  17. Q Magazine
    Aug 28, 2014
    80
    Uncanny. [Sep 2014, p.108]
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  18. Mojo
    Aug 20, 2014
    80
    LP1 is a hugely self-possessed debut, the work of an artist whose vision--not only her visual sense--is strong. [Sep 2014, p.89]
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  19. The Quietus
    Aug 15, 2014
    80
    Thrillingly, LP1 gives any record you might find us covering elsewhere on The Quietus a run for its money in terms of oddness.
  20. musicOMH.com
    Aug 14, 2014
    80
    It’s remarkable the album sounds so cohesive and richly defined.
  21. No Ripcord
    Aug 14, 2014
    80
    All those flinching sounds can surely give some fatigue after a while, but does it matter when it’s so good at instant gratification.
  22. PopMatters
    Aug 14, 2014
    80
    FKA twigs, more than any of her weirder colleagues, seems to understand how to fuse experimentation, traditional pop frameworks, and pop-star packaging into uniquely viable, potent formula for breakthrough success.
  23. Resident Advisor
    Aug 13, 2014
    80
    In the end, LP1 is probably the most singular pop album of the year. It's testament to how emotionally affecting one person's realised vision can be.
  24. Slant Magazine
    Aug 13, 2014
    80
    LP1 is more than just a confident debut album. It's primordial in a way that Björk herself has often attempted but frequently short-circuited letting her cognizance get in the way.
  25. AllMusic
    Aug 12, 2014
    80
    FKA Twigs' music was already so fully realized that LP 1 can't really be called Barnett coming into her own; rather, her music has been tended to since the "Water Me" days, and now it's flourishing.
  26. Fact Magazine (UK)
    Aug 12, 2014
    80
    As with any major pop album, LP1 is a crew effort, there’s no doubt as to whose hand is on the rudder.
  27. Boston Globe
    Aug 11, 2014
    80
    LP1 is the kind of soft-focus album that the late American R&B singer Aaliyah might have made.
  28. CMJ
    Aug 11, 2014
    80
    LP1 takes the humid isolation of Twigs’ EP1 and EP2 and twists it into ten tracks of relationship Hail Marys. But there’s a subdued sense of strength running under Barnett’s pleas that translates into a dark confidence, and in that tension is where LP1 finds its best moments.
  29. The Observer (UK)
    Aug 11, 2014
    80
    Even if the sex-angst of millennials is not your thing, FKA Twigs can still satisfy, and that is why LP1 (the title oozes confidence) is so special.
  30. The Guardian
    Aug 7, 2014
    80
    It has its flaws--as you might have intuited from the videos and press shots, they largely stem from trying a bit too hard--but you leave it convinced that FKA Twigs is an artist possessed of a genuinely strong and unique vision, one that doesn't need bolstering with an aura of mystique.
  31. New Musical Express (NME)
    Aug 6, 2014
    80
    This pervading sense of control and commitment to her art proves that Twigs is set on building the sound of the future all by herself.
  32. DIY Magazine
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    LP1 is a brave first step that she had to take. It’s not perfect, but anything this expressive and personally vital rarely is.
  33. Clash Music
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    Fragile, heavenly and utterly compelling; this debut paves the way for boundaries-pushing pop. This is music that shatters you with a single tap.
  34. Austin Chronicle
    Aug 21, 2014
    78
    Her debut long-player LP1 is proof that talent can only thrive in the shadows for so long.
  35. The Wire
    Dec 15, 2014
    70
    That the album works so well is less a testament of Twigs's charisma and talent--real as those may be--than it is the limitless possibilities of well-paid freelance teamwork. [Nov 2014, p.63]
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  36. Rolling Stone
    Aug 12, 2014
    70
    Twigs' deconstructed shards of U.K. grime and garage land heavier, while elegiac vocals soften the songs without blunting their edge.
  37. Mixmag
    Sep 30, 2014
    60
    There are some excellent tracks here--‘Lights On’, ‘Two Weeks’, ‘Pendulum’--and her talent is obvious, but the men at the production desk could perhaps have been braver.
  38. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Aug 11, 2014
    60
    No longer a statement and certainly abandoning the vanguard, it’s still some sort of map of some sort of territory, a specific body and a specific sexuality in a specific sonic present/presence.
  39. NOW Magazine
    Aug 7, 2014
    60
    After a while, the microscopic detail underscoring each turn of phrase, delivered with such delicate poise and precise drama, is suffocating.

Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best Album of 2014
21
#21 Most Discussed Album of 2014
25
#25 Most Shared Album of 2014

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 459 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 411 out of 459
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 459
  3. Negative: 35 out of 459
  1. NazAw
    Aug 12, 2014
    10
    "LP1" is one monumental debut in Pop music, the poster child [reminiscence] of the Björk's- Aaliyah's and Portishead's delivers with a more"LP1" is one monumental debut in Pop music, the poster child [reminiscence] of the Björk's- Aaliyah's and Portishead's delivers with a more complete experience than ever!
    "I love another, and thus I hate myself" are the on-going words for the opener "Preface". Words directly brought out from a poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt, and formally based upon, conceptually that is the placement of this album over some experimental and soul[ed] production and lyrics.
    From heavenly beginnings, the deeper the cuts plays on the more pattering, heavy and haunting the music goes.

    The visually Queen of the Damned, ancient Egyptian inspired leading single of off the LP, "Two Weeks", (and this years most refreshing tune) features her most breathy, melodic, straightforward realm but also capturing a catchy and interesting both sonically- vocally performance of what contemporary Pop/R&B on the radio been missing. A power ballad, though rawer and more vivid than others with it's desperate "Pull out of the incisor, give me two weeks/You won’t recognize her/Mouth open you're high; Motherf**ker, get your mouth open you know you’re mine; I can f*ck you better than her" all sung in a hypnotizing and soulsucking sensual falsetto ontop of extravagantly- dazzling and bombastic instrumentals.
    The minimalistic touch and climaxes of previous work continues a way on here, tracks like the 'not so present now', heartbreaking, lonely and the polishing verse-to-verse melody of fellow UK artist Rita Ora's "R.I.P", "Pendulum" whom for every chorus that serves builds up to more epic. With guitar riffs that beatifully stretches, pianos who add drama and wash of synthesizers circled around the starts already atmosphere but looses up from every second that is of spac[e]ious feel when the intense get harder for the minute that displays and as the titel itself, it feels like death nearby your throat with the many instruments and futuristic cards being thrown at.

    FKA twigs varies though on her characters than what was on her EP's, she has a control of not being too one dimensional as in when Psalm like sung "Closer" comes by. And not to just drop by out of nowhere, it feels natural and organic, slightly cuter and less out there at your face despite the lyrics. The high pitched vocals that inconsistently shows through the song is a sweet put from the darker steam that is on the album, Vampire Weekend-esque as had on their last year album with the track "Ya Hey".

    "Is she the girl from the video/Stop, stop lying to me" sings twigs in a higher register, that yeah could play on -acts- not necessarily, but if we are being rather specific it talks about her career being the girl in the music videos as a dancer for artists like Jessie J. The track is "Video Girl", a track with one of this years most infectious yet simple choruses with it's "You lie and you lie and you lie" it is a track that seems to be self questionable a little bit, but more so a dialogue discussing her career before taking music seriously.

    The production on the album is handled by twigs herself and the frequent collaborator from "EP2" and Yeezus producer Arca, involved on board is also Paul Epworth who was behind Adele's "21" (Grammy winning album and singles), Emile Haynie who is responsible for Kanye West's "Runaway", the multi-talented Sampha and Dev Hynes (whom I assume had his hands on the guitarrs). Musically it is cohesive, extremely so managing juggling 808s, electronic and it's scraping (knife hitting) beats. Successfully having a sound, a memorable touch all through and so is the lyrics and delivery.
    The experimentation with genres, so to say a Beyonce, The Weeknd to Trip-hop, UK electronic- and Alternative music is a blend on here, making it an experience to broader audiences for many to enjoy and find pieces from. It may not be perfect, but the emotion from it is the winning point.

    This is a testament, FKA twigs is pushing [boundaries] a step in music, evoking influences of classics and modern artists and making this into a platform, a new and fresh sound for others to catch on to.
    "LP1" is one of the most wonderful, heartbreaking and creative releases tackling lust, fantasy, realism of love, identity and self independence.
    "Just like you/I just touch myself".    … Full Review »
  2. thaleslucas
    Aug 12, 2014
    10
    "LP1" is on of the best debut of the year! FKA Twigs show how someone can be Björk and Aaliyah on the same time. It has greats songs like 'Two"LP1" is on of the best debut of the year! FKA Twigs show how someone can be Björk and Aaliyah on the same time. It has greats songs like 'Two Weeks' and 'Video Girl'. I really loved this one!… Full Review »
  3. TrentRey
    Aug 13, 2014
    10
    A very great sounding album with great tracks, lyrics and singing. This is so far, the best album of the year. All the tracks on the album areA very great sounding album with great tracks, lyrics and singing. This is so far, the best album of the year. All the tracks on the album are really good.… Full Review »
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