Alex Banks – Illuminate

Precocious production newcomer delivers a fine debut…

A dark cloud hangs over Alex Banks’ ‘Illuminate’. But it is one that has been pumped out purposefully by the muscular machinations of a precocious newcomer.

The result of two years of head-down studio time, the Brighton-based producer has laced this debut with heart-racing drums that trip over each other and dark-hued synth rollers. And this techno heft provides an unlikely yet oddly compatible backdrop to the soaring vocals of Gazelle Twin’s Elizabeth Bernholz.

Don’t trust this writer’s words; trust the fact that Monkeytown’s Gernot and Szary offered Banks a three-record deal simply after listening to the demo.

8/10

Words: Felicity Martin

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Related: read an interview with Alex Banks

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Listen to ‘Illuminate’ in full via Deezer, below…

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