Banks III

“It’s about going from being a romantic who’s a bit naive and hopeful to being a wise woman. But in between you go through pain and you learn people can lie and you learn those hard lessons that are quite painful.” That's the way the Orange County-born musician Jillian Banks a.k.a. Banks introduces her thrid studio album, "III".

After a hefty world tour in 2017 and a couple of more one-off singles (“Crowded Places”, for the HBO series' Girls, and “Underdog”), Banks kept quiet until late last month, when she dropped the first single from "III", “Gimme”.

“It feels kind of like a slap in the face,” she says of the song, explaining that it’s “about having no shame in who you are and being proud of your own desires.”. Banks’ music has always been bold, shadowy and self-empowering (one of her sophomore album's, "The Altar", standouts was called “Fuck with Myself”). But “Gimme” is a decidedly more aggressive beast than any of her previous songs, from its wobbling bass bombs to its unapologetically direct lyrics.

According to a recent TIDAL interview, "it was through that gut instinct writing style that Banks was able to capture a range of different characters on this album, each a different version of herself but all connected to her own experiences. That embrace of life’s nuance is reflected in the style of the songs themselves, which jump from intense experimental tracks, to straightforward ballads, to throbbing club numbers like “Gimme”".

Starting with the bite of lead single “Gimme,” the songs on III are more fiery than ever, with lyrics about desire and pain sung over driving bass. Banks nearly named the album "Eros", after the Greek god of love -- which would have fallen in line with her other divinely inspired album titles -- but felt the word wasn’t strong enough to encompass the breadth of what she had written about. Her new album, she says, covers a richer chapter in her life, and the number three, with its definitive simplicity, more effectively conveys a beginning, middle and end.

This album is an ode to my journey. It documents a major growth spurt. Of self-acceptance, letting go, forgiveness, and deep love. It has been painful to realize that life is not black and white. Romanticism leads to fierce reality checks, which leads to wisdom, which leads to deeper empathy which leads to greater love. This album documents the cycle. Yes, this is my third album, but that is not why I called it |||. Birth-Life-Death, Beginning-Middle-End, Past-Present-Future. All |||’s and all ending with a theoretical period. To me, ||| represents a cycle of life. It represents acceptance, the ability to let go, and the shaky first step into the unknown. I can’t wait to step into the unknown with you.

-BANKS

01 Till Now
02 Gimme
03 Contaminated
04 Stroke
05 Godless
06 Sawzall
07 Look What You're Doing to Me
08 Hawaiian Mazes
09 Alaska
10 Propaganda
11 The Fall
12 If We Were Made of Water
13 What About Love