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Guestlist Recommends: Banks
RnB/Hip Hop | Monday 1st December 2014 | Melissa
Jillian Banks or ‘Banks’ is known for her moody trip-hop influenced R&B. In the recent wave of spectral and introspective music, her debut album Goddess holds its own among the likes of Jessie Ware, FKA Twigs and The Weeknd - as moody as ever, in all the best ways.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Banks has been honing her song-writing skills since the age of 15, but her ascent to fame has been pretty rapid. Initially uploading her music to a private folder on SoundCloud, it was only when a friend passed her stuff on to a ‘somebody’ in the music industry that she was signed and her career took off around 2013. In the early days she told her manager that The Weeknd would be her dream touring companion and three months later the tour was organised - the success of the pairing is obvious if you check out her cover of 'What You Need':
Her rapid rise to acclaim has a lot to do with the emotional intensity of her music. Writing songs as a form of therapy to deal with her parents' divorce as she was growing up helped develop the rawness in Banks's lyrics, which instantly connect with the listener. Two EPs in 2013, 'Fall Over' and 'London', both featured minimalist beats laid over with heavily-charged lyrics, heightened by her sensuous vocals. 'Waiting Game' tells of her tortured love with another performer: 'I wish I was in love but I don't want to cause any pain'.
Her hotly anticipated debut Goddess came out in September 2014 and surpassed already high expectations. Our favourite track is 'Beggin For Thread', which stands out from the rest with perky drums and quicker tempo (slightly), yet still maintains the sense of heartfelt dizziness that we’ve come to love her for. She comes across as especially charming and unpretentious in this track and has wisely chosen to release as the second single of the album.
Over 18 tracks, the album sees Banks sticking to what she does best as she skillfully draws listeners in with the depth of her lyrics. Other highlights include 'Change', which discusses an emotionally abusive boyfriend: 'Cut me to pieces / While you watched me disintegrate / Because you like to tell me how you hate / All the ways I'm not enough for you'. Towards the end of the album 'Before I Ever Met You' painfully dissects another failed love: 'Before I ever met you / I never knew I could be broken in so many ways'. Her woozy sounds and swelling emotions can't fail to ignite some kind of feeling, even amongst the hardest of listeners.
Check Banks out on Facebook and Twitter, and have a listen to her SoundCloud below:
