BANKS is an artist that I’ve known of since her song “Beggin For Thread” played on the alternative radio station when I was 14. I remember really loving how urgent and intense she was, while still remaining detached and cool. It’s a unique combination that the Orange County–born and L.A.-raised singer-songwriter was able to maintain all the way until now, with her recent record release Off With Her Head. I got back into her when a friend sent me her song “Love Is Unkind,” where I noticed how sharp her pen is. She has a way of making you feel like she’s being intimate with you, while remaining wrapped in dark imagery and metaphor. I figure that’s how her music is able to resonate deeply while still feeling a bit out of reach.
I was thrilled to be able to see her on her recent tour for her new album, after combing through some of her old catalogue and starting to really like her as an artist. BANKS played a set with just her and a backing track, as she commanded the stage with a steady hand on the microphone and some sharp dance moves. She started the night off with “Guillotine,” as the crowd erupted into cheers. Holding up a white mask (like the one on her album cover), BANKS danced with it like she was flirting with the idea of letting her guard down. She then immediately went into “Love Is Unkind,” swaying back and forth with force. The song goes from bare in the first verse “I noticed how much you gave up/I noticed all the times that we/Mm, misheard it all” to down in flames in the third: “been to hell, then to Hades and back, never stopped/Why would we play Simon Says by the fire?/I did what you said and got caught.”
Shortly after, she played one of her biggest hits “Gemini Feed,” an upbeat song about a toxic relationship: “and to think you would get me to the altar/Like I follow you around like a dog that needs water/But admit it that you wanted me smaller/If you would have let me grow/You could have kept my love.” It’s an angry song, and she delivered it like she was pissed, but over it now. BANKS would look out, engage with the audience, then lock back in a minute later and hit her marks like she was entirely in her own world. It was mesmerizing to see, as she would pull you in then push you away.