BANKS: ‘It Was A Very Isolating Experience’

If there’s two names currently trying to steal every inch of the spotlight, it’s BANKS and SOHN. Fresh from supporting The Weeknd at the humongous O2 Arena and gaining herself a place in the running for the BBC Sound Of 2014, BANKS’ future is already shining bright. Electronic expert and 4AD newcomer SOHN’s career is looking just as promising, but it’s the work they’ve done together that’s most exciting.

Having already collaborated on the former’s breakthrough EP ‘London’, the Austrian-based producer helped out on standout track ‘Waiting Game’. That’s not all they’ve done together; it seems there’s more work in the pipeline. Speaking to DIY, BANKS has confirmed that she recently visited SOHN’s isolated Vienna studio before heading out on her giant European tour.

“We were writing music,” Jillian Banks reveals. “It was about the vibes, seeing what happens. It was a very isolating experience. That’s important. You need to be able dive into your own mind and your own heart, and feel what you’re feeling without being crowded by anything.”

SOHN also told us some details of the experience, speaking highly of the atmosphere the two create when working together. “I don’t know how she works with the other guys, but with me it’s very 50-50,” he asserts. “We sit down and find a keyboard. BANKS has some strong melodic motifs; when you hear all the songs together, you realise that’s what she is choosing, what she would sing. It’s the same thing with Björk. When you hear someone covering Björk, you’ll know it’s her song.

“She’s got this indie root to what she’s doing. The production that she’s had is the opposite. She’s said before that she really likes Fiona Apple, so she’s got that root to her songwriting; that singer-songwriter indie vibe going on.”

Check out their previous collaboration, ‘Waiting Game’, below.



Read the full interview in the December-January Class Of 2014 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.