Reviewed by Robyn: Peaceful But Groovy Tunes From BANKS & ODESZA
BANKS – Goddess
I am always eager to hear new music by female artists; there are definitely not enough of them out there for my liking. After hearing about BANKS last winter, I’ve been anticipating her album release for a while. Now that Goddess has been released, I’m pleased by what I hear. BANKS could be the love child of Grimes and Lorde and Lights –- a fantastic mix of electronic music and feminine vocals.
What is seriously impressive is that BANKS manages to be soulful in the coolest way – you can tell from listening to her vocals she is definitely cooler than you. Her songs are filled with emotion, and her vocals present the emotion in an impressive way. In the song Waiting Game the fear of heartbreak become very real, and this is just one example of the depth of her album. BANKS’ voice has a thickness to it that makes you want to wrap yourself up into her music.
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The tracks themselves are put together in a fantastic way. Much of the album is very light and fluid, making it easy to drift to sleep to. This being said, the album was practically made to be remixed and if you do a quick search on SoundCloud you’ll find many remixes already.
As a debut album with lots of hype, BANKS created an album that fulfilled my craving for soulful and electronic tunes all at once. She is very talented and the album is definitely worth buying. I will give her a B+ for Goddess and I’m sure an A in October when I see her perform.
ODESZA – In Return
These guys were the first group that I listened to in this genre, so I’ve been really looking forward to hearing their new stuff for a while. I got a bit of a taste at Osheaga, but that was just the tip of iceberg. ODESZA’s new alum In Return has many amazing tracks that will get you grooving no matter your mood.
One thing that I specifically love about this album is how easily you can hear the mood of each song, but how hard it is to describe. The track Memories That You Call (feat Monsoonsiren) is filled with anticipation and wonder but it’s hard to properly explain it. This track is probably my favourite on the album, because it has a very diverse set of sounds that mix together so well. To me this just shows the talent that went into creating this album.
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With this album I think ODESZA experimented with more vocals than before. I like how they’ve seamlessly added the vocals into the mix, and it sounds pretty good. The album is perfect to listen to in many situations, some songs are so peaceful I would say they were created to study to while other songs are so vibrant you can’t help but groove along. I’m very excited to experience this album live again in October at Le Belmont. I give this album a B+ as well, and think it’s worth getting some tickets to see ODESZA in Ocobter.
