News Jacob Banks

: Jacob Banks
Based: Birmingham
Listen: Kids On The Corner
Similar to: Michael Kiwanuka, Aloe Blacc

Jacob Banks sounds a lot older than his 21 years. Fuzzy guitar licks dredged up from yesteryear, a love of Sam Cooke… In many ways, he feels like a natural successor to Michael Kiwanuka – the next in a long line of soulful voices in love with the past. But whereas Kiwanuka offered almost idyllic words of hope, Banks’ current single ‘Kids on the Corner’ deals with a far more unforgiving world.

The song paints a bleak portrait of poverty in an unforgiving urban landscape; “nowhere to run to, no chance in hell I’m going to get through” – yet for a track steeped in the miseries of contemporary living, it manages to feel surprisingly upbeat; an anthem to rival Aloe Blacc’s ‘I Need A Dollar’. There’s the same rhythmic piano lines, the same warmth of vocals – but it’s the edge of the Hendrix-esque guitar lines that affords Banks’ effort a realness that sticks with you long after the track itself has faded out.

As storyteller and musician then, Banks clearly knows which buttons to push. The jury’s out as to whether the UK actually needs another troubadour penning odes to an austerity culture that feels all too close to comfort at times like this. But when it comes down to it, ‘Kids on the Corner’ succeeds through virtue of going beyond its subject matter to deliver a package where Banks’ talent remains firmly at the fore.


‘The Monologue EP’ is coming soon on Levels/Renowned Records