Her name is BANKS
Hometown: Los Angeles.
The lineup: Banks (vocals, keyboards).
The background: Banks doesn't have a first name, but she does have a phone number, and she plastered it all over the web recently. "Hello world!" she exclaimed, virtually. "I like making connections outside of a computer screen. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have never really been my thing. So my manager is going to run the Social Media stuff. If you ever want to talk call me - (323) 362-2658 - BANKS."
Other things worth mentioning about her: she was the most popular new act on Hype Machine with her track Warm Water, which has had 250,000 SoundCloud plays, she's been featured in all the right places - Fader, Gorilla Vs Bear, Consequence Of Sound, FACT, Abeano - and had "spins" on Radio 1 and 1xtra. Oh, and she's the main support for the Weeknd on his September-October US dates. That makes sense. We heard the forthcoming album from Abel Tesfaye at a playback last night in London and there is a certain congruence of sound between Banks on these, her early recordings, and Tesfaye's Kiss Land. We are not allowed to talk about the sound of Tesfaye's Kiss Land, having signed multiple documents and taken a vow of silence on the subject under pain of having our private telephone numbers made public on the internet. All we're saying is, check out Banks' Warm Water, Before I Ever Met You and Fall Over and you will get a glimpse of what's to come from the Weeknd.
We got into trouble last Friday for not pointing out how involved Jessy Lanza was with the production side of her music. Much has been made of Banks' collaborations with Lil Silva, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Sohn, especially on the TEED-produced Warm Water, so for safety's sake let's assume they did half and half in the studio. Warm Water is well-titled, with its almost jazzily soulful vocals, warm synth pads and gently gurgling percussion. If Sade went electronic, she'd sound like this. It's nicetronica, designed for nocturnal adult play involving wine and candles. Or as TEED has called it: "baby-making music". Before I Ever Met You has the slow-motion menace of industrial muzak, with Banks moaning: "I never knew I could be broken in so many ways." And that's the chorus. Altogether now! On Fall Over the music builds and builds, increasing in metallic intensity as Banks' voice breaks free of its low, sultry moorings and becomes a full-tilt screech. As long as she gets the balance right between that husky voice and the harsher electronics, and doesn't stray into mush-MOR territory, she's going to be worth investing in.
Click to viewSource, her youtube.
Saw a post from Jessie Ware on FB sharing her soundcloud and I listened to the EP and I'm obsessed. Do you like it? Do you have a favorite new artist, other recs?