III (CD)
BANKS
Amoeba Review
08/04/2020
Jillian Banks continues her obfuscation of R&B with III, which is, all things considered, easily her most out-there production yet. That might be a striking description for an album that would release the crowd pleasing, tried-and-true gospel satisfaction of “Look What You’re Doing To Me” as a single. Sure, Banks’ work is not as uncanny valley pop as others who tread in similar territory (whether that be serpentwithfeet or Jessy Lanza), but nevertheless she prefers to coat sunny and unabashedly accessible songwriting in surreal sonic manipulations which leave plenty of lingering abstract angles to revisit. There’s her inscrutable voice, for one, frequently electronically treated and digitally distorted to a degree that would make Jai Paul proud. Those classic Daft Punk songs where you can’t tell whether it’s a guitar, synth, or some weird vocoder hitting that sweet spot? Shades of that are all over a bold production that isn’t afraid to play with timbre and texture mid-song.