A beautiful and intimate track.
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8
Six months on from the release of The Altar, Californian singer-songwriter BANKS‘ ‘Crowded Places’ is hopefully a taster for a follow-up project. As she is currently in the midst of a North American tour stint, this release undoubtedly comes as a pleasant surprise.
Written for the final series of American TV show Girls, ‘Crowded Places’ features all of the usual traits of a BANKS track that have driven her success – poetic and extremely personal lyrics, intricately layered harmonies, and that undeniably haunting vibrato – whilst sitting much more like some of her earlier releases than the heavier tracks of The Altar. What is so refreshing about BANKS’ music is that you can tell she puts absolutely everything into her songs – the lyrics clearly come from her own experiences, the emotion behind them is tangible, and this new single bears no exception to the feeling of being let in on one of her secrets.
‘Crowded Places’ addresses the difficulties of a relationship when one person is touring the world and frequently away from home, just as BANKS obviously is. In the second verse, she sings, “Remember when I loved you right before that tour? / You said you didn’t want to see me anymore,” and how it was “the only time I thought I’d made a mistake.” The song depicts her internal struggle to balance her personal life with her career and the clear regret she feels for prioritising her work – a topic that would be relatable to many.
‘Crowded Places’ is out now via Harvest Records
