"III is as close to perfection of her own sound as Banks is going to get - she has such a unique vibe and an even more unique voice, and she’s been fine tuning it for the last five years."
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Great Listen
Review by Emily Marshman
Recommended tracks: “Gimme,” “Stroke,” “Look What You’re Doing to Me,” “Alaska”
Banks cemented her place as goddess of all things indie with the arrival of her debut album of the same name in 2014. Her songs have been featured in shows like Grey’s Anatomy and The Originals, and her song “Waiting Game” was on the Divergent soundtrack, meaning even if you don’t think you’ve heard her, you’ve heard her. III is as close to perfection of her own sound as Banks is going to get – she has such a unique vibe and an even more unique voice, and she’s been fine tuning it for the last five years.
The album opens with “Till Now,” a sorrowful anthem about lost love and the scorn she feels at the ending of a relationship and the way she was treated during it. “Till Now” acts as a reflection on the blinders we often adopt in toxic relationships – we see what we want to see, what our partner wants us to see – and the revelatory feeling the end of it leads to. It immediately bleeds into “Gimme,” a rousing and lilting arrangement of anger and scorn, which falls straight into “Contaminated,” in which she seems to feel lost and regretful. The change in tones in each of these tracks is almost whiplash-inducing, but one can’t help but feel as if this was purposeful.
By “Stroke” it’s clear to listeners this is an album Banks wrote post-breakup, and a striking one at that. On a side note – the bass in this track is particularly hypnotic. The lyrics tell the story of a woman made to feel complacent by the man she thought loved her, when all he really ever loved was himself and the way she made him feel.
The undeniable theme throughout this album is power – at the start, feeling powerless to someone else, and as it goes on, regaining that power. “Look What You’re Doing To Me” is an acknowledgement of the power her love held over her. The power he continues to hold. She acknowledges that she’s still hurt by it, and it tells an important story. It also helps that this track is one hell of a bop.
“What About Love,” the final track on the album, is remorseful and almost a reflection on the album as a whole – she knows their relationship is over, but she can’t help but wish they could find their way back to one another.
A three year wait was well-worth it for the masterful commentary on loneliness and vulnerability that is III. Hidden inside the autotune is a piano ballad at every turn. You can find Banks on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and her website. She’ll be hitting the road in September.
