Capping off a week of song and video reveals, BANKS released her new EP, Live and Stripped, today via Harvest Records. Download / stream Live and Stripped HERE. On the EP, BANKS performs acoustic versions of three tracks from her acclaimed 2019 album, III – “Stroke,” “Contaminated” and “If We Were Made of Water” – and “Drowning,” a song from her 2014 debut album, Goddess.
While debuting a track a day, she also unveiled corresponding 1 Mic 1 Take videos, which were shot live at Capitol Studios in late 2019. 1 Mic 1 Take is an original performance series developed by Capitol Records that showcases an artist’s true talent in a stripped down format. These performances are truly delivered in one take – no overdubs, no visual editing tricks.
As she unveiled “Drowning” on Monday, BANKS took over Billboard’s Instagram, sharing photos from her quarantine. On Tuesday, PAPER Magazine premiered the video for “Contaminated.” BANKS shared “Stroke” on Wednesday and “If We Were Made of Water” followed on Thursday. She’ll take over Consequence of Sound’s Instagram at 11:00 AM PT today.
View BANKS’ 1 Mic 1 Take videos:
“Stroke”
“Contaminated”
“Drowning”
“If We Were Made of Water”
“‘This is the face of someone who loves you babe,’ goes a line in ‘Contaminated,’” observed PAPER Magazine. “Like any singer/songwriter in total command of her voice and words, she lets the line hover in the still air of Capitol Studios' legendary performance and recording space. It's a comfort nowadays to see and hear a voice as raw and real as Banks', breaking through the digital ether that has become our new normal.” Idolator praised “Drowning” as “stunning…breathtaking artistry in full flight.” Consequence of Sound noted, “[On ‘Drowning,’ her] voice sounds stronger and more pent-up, as if she’s reliving the very narrative she’s detailing…The EP version does a great job at highlighting her sense of control and ability to balance sheen and raspy singing styles.”
Since the 2014 release of Goddess, BANKS has amassed more than 1.5 billion cumulative streams worldwide. The tally includes over 116 million combined global streams for songs from III, which Pitchfork hailed as her “best album to date.” Rolling Stone, which awarded the album four stars, said “BANKS pushes her sound into strange, scary, gorgeous new places” and praised the “evocative and bittersweet vibe” she brought to “Contaminated” during a performance with orchestra on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” In another four-star review, NME said, “‘Stroke,’ a song about falling for a narcissist…pairs featherlight melodies with crunchy, near-industrial beats…And ‘If We Were Made of Water’ features a pretty damning expression of sexual regret.” TIME noted, “In III, she explores pain, desire and personal growth, mixing vulnerable songwriting with experimental and genre-blending production.”
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