BANKS w/ Movement at First Avenue, Minneapolis (08 October 2014)
Believing that “everyone should be their most powerful selves” Los Angeles singer/songwriter Jillian Rose Banks (AKA BANKS) named her first full-length record, Goddess (Harvest Records), a seemingly confident title for an act few people were aware of, just a short time ago.
Setlist
Tour Dates 10/14/14 Seattle, WA The Showbox
10/15/14 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 10/16/14 Portland, OR McMenamins Crystal 10/19/14 San Francisco, CA Treasure Island 10/21/14 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 10/22/14 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 11/17/14 Birmingham Institute 11/19/14 Glasgow ABC1 11/23/14 London O2 Academy Brixton 11/25/14 Manchester The Ritz 01/24/15 Singapore Gardens By The Bay 01/26/15 Auckland, New Zealand Silo Park 01/31/15 Brisbane, Aus Brisbane Showgrounds 02/01/15 Rozelle, Aus Sydney College Of Arts 02/06/15 Adelaide, Aus Harts Mill 02/07/15 Footscray, Aus Footscray 02/08/15 Fremantle, Aus Esplanade 02/12/15 Tokyo, Japan Liquid Room Believing that “everyone should be their most powerful selves” Los Angeles singer/songwriter Jillian Rose Banks (AKA BANKS) named her first full-length record, Goddess (Harvest Records), a seemingly confident title for an act few people were aware of, just a short time ago.
But, after increasing buzz with her London EP, a cut on the Divergent soundtrack, and a tour with The Weeknd, “goddess” is what BANKS is quickly on the road to becoming, as evidenced by her hour-long set at First Avenue in Minneapolis.  This was a good night to bring in night vision goggles, as opening trio Movement (Lewis Wade- vocals/keys, Jesse Ward- DJ/beats, Sean Walker- drums/percussion) from Sydney Australia, played their nocturnal blend of bass-heavy, atmospheric electronica in dark shirts with minimal lighting. Tracks like ‘Us’ and ‘Like Lust’ simmered with a mechanical broodiness sung by a more soulful 90’s R&B influenced James Blake (the band even inserted a snippet of Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” into their mix). Their debut 4-track EP (on Modular Records) is out now, with full-length expected to follow.
After intermission, lights dimmed to almost darkness again, and BANKS emerged in all black, with two sidemen, launching into ‘Before I Ever Met You’ followed quickly by ‘Alibi’. The music itself is a moody blend of trip-hop, goth, R&B, and widescreen alternative (Lauryn Hill+Fiona Apple+Portishead+ Lykke Li?) with lush melodies and layered, overdubbed vocals. Much like Lorde was doing on the other side of the globe, BANKS has taken those influences and interests, thrown them into a sonic melting pot, and emerged with a dreamy sound and lyrics of broken relationships that has related immediately to so many people. Songs like ‘Brain’ and the title track were similar to their recorded counterparts, due to the precision in creating the music and the overdubbed vocals, while the more bare ‘Someone New’ smoldered in its minimalism and emotive lyrics, which obviously cut deep to the woman singing them. “If you know this song, please sing it”, she mentioned before going into a lilting version of Trey Songz’ ‘Na Na’, which itself samples the Fugees’ ‘Fu-Gee- La’…which in turn samples Teena Marie’s ‘Ooh La La La’,…ok, you get the idea. Her dialogue between songs was minimal, probably in part due to her seeming shyness on stage and also to keep up the mystery façade of the songs and ambience of the show. The younger-skewed crowd was mostly rabid about the singer and her music, yet was also mysteriously chatty during several of the slower songs. “This is our last song—it’s called Beggin’ for Thread”, she announced, resulting in loud wails for more and for the song itself, which is in regular rotation at local radio. “We love you Minneapolis, we never want to leave you” she remarked before the one song encore of ‘Stick’, which was inspired by “the sexiness of Abel”, referring to The Weeknd’s Abel Tesfaye. BANKS has mentioned of her music, “I sing about falling in love, I sing about anger, I sing about fear, I sing about feeling sexy, I sing about confidence, and also about feeling completely insecure. I sing about every single thing, and every single thing makes me human and makes me beautiful… and a goddess”. Point proven.
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