WVAU’s #8 Song of 2014: Banks – "Alibi"

Andrea Diaz

Courtesy of BANKS’ Soundcloud.

“Alibi‰” is the perfect build-up song for a crowd; it‰’s the beat-driven first minute, produced by SOHN, where BANKS’ blurred words become a mysterious tale we yearn to know more of. This dark-haired valley girl has a story to tell.

After this mesmerizing minute, her voice creeps up in a sweet way, ending each line with a vibrato. Her pitch seems unimaginable to reach, which makes you think about her words even more. 

Even without the lyrics, the title of the song speaks for itself. “Alibi‰” blames something, someone for turning her into a “monster,‰” unrecognizable even to herself. It opens up the floor to the rest of her album, where she rescues herself from the hurricane depths of her lover’s arms, claiming back her very existence. She does this with elegant elongated tones and power emanating from her passion-filled vocal cords.

The only right way to listen to this song is through headphones, because when she says “give me one‰” it palpitates through your whole body. These three words echo from the left ear to the right, a sneaky move on her behalf that reminds us who really is at fault here, clearly not her. They continue to echo throughout much of the song, until she slows down the end with a solemn piano that deeply contrasts the electronic vibes of the beginning of the song. Yet this very same contrast brings us back to why this is the first song of Goddess – it encompasses the electro and ballad mixture of the rest of the album.