Jacob Banks at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Beyond uniquely gorgeous vocals – which have garnered, widely, their well-deserved acclaim – Jacob Banks has a talent for bringing studio records to another dimension of life on stage, most recently at a delighted Shepherd’s Bush Empire on a frosted-over November night. He’s touring his album Lies About the War, which landed at the close of the summer on his own Nobody Records imprint, a gently personal, spherically reflective, and, in its lighter moments, almost playful meditation on love, truth and all the different things those words can mean to us.

Never simply solemn, as much a living painting as an artist or an instrument, Banks captivated the audience, all of whom turned up to hear what he had to say, no matter how much truth there was to it. The artist sings how he sees things, never pretending to be bigger than that (although the concert was, in every figurative sense, enormous), guiding the crowd slowly through his back catalogue: the heartbreaking Slow Up, the eponymous Chainsmoking to a sparse, acoustic Frank Ocean cover, as if without effort. A highlight was the wonderful Found, composed after the loss of the singer’s grandmother, which can be subjected to review only in the sense of listening more than once; but devoted fans – and all of Banks’s fans seem to be devoted – helped provide some impromptu backing vocals to each and every track. As he opened his set, he took to the mic to remind us to be kind to each other.

When we describe Jacob Banks’s voice as soulful, it’s no doubt a great accolade, this being a word (much like “love” or “truth”) that requires listeners to pause over everything it has held and will continue to hold. There is, of course, more to it than that – or at least, something specific to emphasise, a warmth, an honesty – if not a truth – and, most of all, a commitment, which elevates his voice above the layered choruses and light-touch production of Lies About the War and which renders a great theatre intimate. Doubtless there is more magic to come, as the artist reminds us on By Design (Evel Knievel): “All I got is love and time / Oh I’m just living by design.”

Sylvia Unerman
Photos: Nick Bennett

For further information and future events visit Jacob Banks’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Found here: