BANKS - Serpentina
Distinctions between mainstream and alternative versions of a musical subgenre are often about as clear as distinctions between shades of red. Jillian Banks, a.k.a. BANKS, distinguishes her alternative styles of pop and R&B from the mainstream with hot-pink techniques and blood-red emotions.
Still, with “Misunderstood,” the opening track of her fourth studio LP, Serpentina, BANKS declares, “Please let me be misunderstood,” marshalling the vocal force of Alicia Keys and the attitude of Nina Simone, despite the message reversing Simone’s signature plea not to be misunderstood.
Her assertion of creative authority is less enigmatic: she co-produces and co-writes all 13 tracks here, imparting consistency that extends from small elements, like sonic quirks recognizably borrowed from modern-pop trends, to the larger, undulating whole she builds up starting with those small elements.
The third track, “Fuck Love,” expresses this consistency ferally, with BANKS utilizing the recently common and potentially annoying tactic of pitch-shifted voices as effective background indicators that her foreground voice, low and slinky and cool as exhaled menthol smoke, is more desperate than it sounds.
She’s more deeply confident on “The Devil,” gazing past all gawkers with the insouciance of later Rihanna as she descends into hell with every intent of taking over the place, and much more vulnerable on “Birds by the Sea,” looking out to the oceanic horizon and breathily whispering as if she’s found a sweet spot between Tori Amos and the quieter side of Miley Cyrus.
That place between the independently accessible and the Top 40 unusual is where BANKS locates most of Serpentina: “Anything 4 U” and “Skinnydipped” would stick out, but not too far out, from a heavy-rotation playlist that also included Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa. She’s her own distinct woman, now more than ever, but also one among many.
