NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2025
Alt-pop priestess BANKS cast a spell over the Brooklyn Paramount on Friday night as she swept through town supporting her newest album Off With Her Head. Jillian Rose Banks has been bewitching audiences since 2013 with her genre-bending blends of enchanting sounds that always seem to flirt with the darker arts of goth and industrial music while still driving home a solidly catchy pop tune. Just last year she was celebrating the 10th anniversary of her first album Goddess with smaller shows here in NYC so it is no surprise that she has returned to her roots on this new disc, once again collaborating with many of the musicians and producers from that otherworldly debut.
Opening up the night was South London singer-songwriter Abby-Lynn Keen who goes by the name Absolutely. She is the younger sister of the popular singer Raye, but her sound does have it own darkly gothy appeal as she mixes in elements of R&B and EDM. She is still probably best known for her songwriting contributions with the likes of Jesy Nelson, Anitta, and Leigh-Anne but is clearly coming into her own as an artist, with a full album back in 2023 called Cerebrum. She played some tracks off that album like “Arrivals,” “Symphony,” and “Glass,” but she seemed to be playing mostly new songs in her set like “I Just Don’t Know You Yet” and “No Audience.” I was very impressed by her dramatic onstage presence, as well as her drummer and guitarist backing band that really gave the music the depth it deserved.
Click on photos to enlarge
BANKS came out on stage and commanded the stage all on her own, as she played with no backing band and no special guests. She dominated the crowd alone with a just microphone, a backing track, and a piano which she sometimes played and other times just sexily slinked around on. There were some cool video art projections going on behind her for some of the show, but nothing seemed to distract from her hypnotizing presence. She started the night off with a new track “Guillotine” as she slid around on a lonely chair in the middle of the stage, playing with a white mask like the one on her album cover. She followed that up with another new track “Love Is Unkind”, strutting around with dramatic intent, before she played a couple of very popular songs “Fuck With Myself” and “Gemini Feed”, from 2016’s Altar, that had the crowd going wild. She then played what seemed to be most of the rest of her new album before getting behind the piano to play a few more intimate numbers “Someone New” and “Drowning” from her first disc. The night ended with her biggest hits “Waiting Game” and “Beggin for Thread” from her debut album, and concluded with her newest single “I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend.” She was a real force to be reckoned with throughout the show, and her artistry and spellbinding presence had me enchanted the whole night.
Click on photos to enlarge
