BanksThe first offering from alt-R&B singer-songwriter Banks, Goddess, was drippy but monotonous.
On her second album she has upped the ante. The Altar experiments with distance, rhythm and a rainbow of distortion effects - Banks enters the album far away and spends the rest of the tracks coming forward and backing off. The album is at its best on songs like Gemini Feed and Poltergeist when it uses this push and pull to create compelling tension that allows the rhythm speak for itself. But often the album's aspirations for drama are distracting and miss the mark; they end up undermining Banks' — and the rhythm's — sincerity.
