Banks

+ special guest

BANKS will be making her live return to the UK for a debut headline tour in March.

The last few weeks have seen the Los Angeles singer-songwriter and self-taught pianist tipped by everyone from the BBC Sound of 2014, MTV, Spotify and all the way to Shazam and UK Blog Sound of 2014, further testament that the excitement with BANKS as one of the years most promising new artists is truly across the board.

The Guardian’s new band of the day back in July, described Banks as “less reticent, more robust, less wispily idiosyncratic” than other “ethereal R&B females”. With a deeper voice “she does sultry and mature/sophisticated woman rather than distracted laptop girl (she loves Fiona Apple, Lauryn Hill, Tracy Chapman: “Anybody with grit and crunch in their voice”). The voice is higher in the mix, but it’s not high. And although she’s singing – huskily – over beats, they’re not quite as blown as SZA’s or Phlo’s. This is straighter stuff: more Jessie Ware than Jessy Lanza”.

BANKS critically lauded London EP (the title owing to the city it was written and recorded in) released in September has won her an ever-growing legion of supporters and fans as it further established her distinct sound – a place where sparse clicky beats, wiry basslines, mercurial synths, confessional lyrics, and seductive melodies coalesce. Supporting the Weeknd on tour in the US and UK, the end of the year has seen her grace stages as sizeable as Radio City Music Hall in New York to the 02 Arena in London. A one off headline London show at Shoreditch Town Hall sold out in a head spinning two hours.

£11 adv + bf

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