BANKS - Drowning

BANKS just keeps on dishing out the tunes, doesn’t she? Her latest track ‘Drowning’ is one of her strongest offerings yet, built from a syrupy-viscous metallic ooze, that pulls down with magnetic force into immersive deeps. Continuing a trend of successive powerhouse collaborators - SOHN, Shlohmo and Jamie Woon - this time around BANKS is produced by Al Shux; the London-based producer who has previously worked with Lana Del Rey, and is also behind Jay-Z’s ‘Empire State of Mind’.

Heartbreak is a solid subject for a ballad, and one that occasionally borders on slightly predictable sentiments that belong in soppy Hallmark cards rather than on stereos. Jillian Banks, however, continually makes an old topic sound new. ‘From the girl who made you soup and tied your shoes when you were hurting, you are not deserving’ she sings over a pulsing underbelly of dripping vocal manipulation, and it sounds believable and vulnerable, like she’s stooped over her freshly and lovingly prepared miso, delicately seasoning it with a solitary tear rolling down her cheek.