by Nando Morsani
photo by Barnaby Roper
Singer/songwriter Banks hails from Orange County, but she could easily be mistaken for a New Yorker. With a darkly tinged R&B sound that’s both urban and danceable, the seductive electro-pop crooner is a hot breath of humid air in the middle of a sand desert. Banks released her debut album Goddess in 2014 and after follow-up record The Altar, she started to find recognition for deep and emotional tracks such as “Crowded Place” that soon found themselves in heavy rotating on TV shows like HBO’s Girls. The 29-year-old differentiates herself from most artists of her ilk through her sparing use of social media and reluctance towards self-promotion, although you’d never know it by the results which include MTV/BBC awards nods and tours with The Weeknd. It’s easy to imagine yourself watching her succeed, because she’s done it over and over again. Lollapalooza is just the latest stop on her upwards trajectory.
