Album Review: BANKS - London EP

BANKS
London EP
Rating: Grrrr

LA singer BANKS releases her second EP of the year, the 4 track stunner London, showcasing her sultry delivery and immaculate taste in collaborators, aligning herself with up and comers SOHN, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Lil Silva, and Jamie Woon. BANKS hangs in a sort of netherworld between pop, R&B, electronic, and indie-alternative, never really putting her foot firmly into any one camp, choosing to float loosely over them all, taking what works best to suit her sexy voice. Her voice is often compared to Lana Del Rey, whose voice is pretty, don't get me wrong, however, BANKS adds more emotional heft to her tracks instead of being mere window dressing.

London begins with the SOHN produced track "Waiting Game" which opens with BANKS' multi-tracked voice under stark piano chords and her main, smoky vocal line. Buzzy electronics push the song forward into a dense, sinister mesh.



"This Is What It Feels Like," produced by Lil Silva and Jamie Woon, takes the bass line from Ginuine's "Pony" and slows it down into a horror film crawl, BANKS' vocal turn more edgy and aggressive, toying with and playing against the fractured beats and army of samples. Her voice goes from a whisper to a growl on a dime, using silence as a weapon, turning this track in to a head spinning stunner.



The Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs' produced track "Bedroom Wall" creates a gorgeous mix of intimate electronica and future R&B, BANKS' voice in delicate mode, showcasing her tender, emotional side.



Final track, "Change" took a long time for me to get a handle on, as it doesn't initially grab you like the first three tracks. It's insistent keyboard motif and skittering percussion keep luring you into the mix, as BANKS' dusky voice flutters up and down as the music gets denser and denser. It's the perfect way to end this almost flawless EP.



London is a nice snapshot of BANKS as a artist right now, offering a cohesive grouping of tracks that are each shaded differently enough where they work together yet stand apart from each other. BANKS' voice is flexible enough where she can go from subtle to strong in a heart beat, and better yet, knows when to show restraint or when to let go. Based on her limited output at the moment, we can only expect great things from this emerging talent.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.