BANKS profile continues to rise rapidly with another outstanding track form the forthcoming album Goddess, “I got some dirt on my shoes,” Jillian Banks sings on “Beggin for Thread,” as if she just tracked it in from the graveyard across your new white rug with a c’est la vie shrug. Following several online releases, her debut LP confirms a beguiling, diaristic voice that echoes avant-pop forebears (Aaliyah, Fiona Apple, Kate Bush) and a taste for gloomy, synth-centric productions. On “Someone New,” electronics stripped off, you hear a singer needing more song. But elsewhere, parsing romantic doubt over humming hardware, emotions swell like storm clouds. And when she fully brings the weather – see the f-bombing title track – it’s something to behold.
The name’s Banks, Jillian Banks. Or, if you’re shouting about her like plenty of people seem to be doing; BANKS.
Armed with enviably high cheekbones and a seductive, throaty Los Angeles drawl, Miss Banks is causing a stir with her moody r’n’b, and she knows it. From self-taught keyboard to recording songs using a dictaphone, Jillian’s childhood shoulder-brushings with music were humble. Now she’s being compared to artists including Lauryn Hill and Tracy Chapman – the very women who inspired her to write her own songs in the first place. Not bad.
The 26-year-old’s first attempt at a full-length is intense and straight-talking from the beginning. Goddess is a stand-out: self-assured and laced with sophistication, it certainly doesn’t sound like a debut. Then again, BANKS has been making music for over a decade, which is probably why.
The Fat Angel Sings 