“I hit ‘em with the switch up and they bow to it.”
When initially entering the world of Banks Arcade, admittedly, I was starstruck. The track “Drown” stuck out to me one day on my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist and I just had to check the band out. I was immediately sucked into Joshua O’Donnell’s gliding and gorgeous vocals. I spun their EP, Fever Dreams, and shared it to a few friends who I knew would be interested. It only took about a month for the band to drop their single “Don’t Start” from when I discovered them, which is how I’d come to find out they’d been picked up by the label, UNFD, who are home to some of the scene’s best and brightest upcoming bands. My first impression of the track was fueled by the hype of discovering a new band, so I was blinded with delight, perhaps owed to recency bias. Regrettably, I noticed that my enthusiasm for the track faded far quicker than for any of their other previous material.
“Smile” really set the stage for the new sound that they seemed to be going for on this album. Isolating these two singles in comparison to their Fever Dreams EP, I felt like they were moving away from an ethereal ambience to a more rap-esque addition to their usual combination of heaviness with their keen pop sense. Of course, without the album, I didn’t know that the very action of comparing them was my mistake. “Be Someone” restored the bit of hope I needed to give the album a chance, and I’m forever grateful it did. Even coming back to the song now, I get chills hearing the beat get stripped back just before the drop into Jason Meadows’ heavy riffing, with the second time the hook hits being even more intense than the first. It allowed me to actually open myself back up to the idea of thoroughly enjoying the album like I had originally anticipated.
I was kicking myself the moment the first piano notes struck on the title and intro track “Future Lovers”. The transition going into “Freaks” is executed flawlessly, and establishes immediately that this album is not confined to the style of its singles whatsoever. In fact, the versatility that Banks Arcade demonstrates here is comparable to few acts from this year, one in particular being label mates Windwaker. “Fake Your Death” is an anthem awaiting its discovery with O’Donnell’s powerhouse screams over soaring riffs and pounding drums. These tracks made going back to “Smile” feel a lot smoother within the context of the album, and almost made me feel like I wish it wasn’t a single. Without the support of surrounding tracks on Future Lovers, the track presented a change in the band I wasn’t ready for. In contrast, my initial reaction to “Spark” was wishing that it were a single instead. The earworm of a chorus on this cut is easily one of Banks Arcade’s best works, and will certainly become a fan favorite.
Flying into the second half of the album with “Be Someone”, I was excited to hear what else was coming from the boys. “System Failed” slams you with toe curlingly heavy riffs just as the song begins. The glitchy noises that are littered throughout the track can only be described as ambient alien abduction noises, and yet despite their absurdity, they add so much to the track’s atmosphere. With this track, it feels in particular that they’re attempting to call back to listed influence Northlane, a familiar and welcome band for me. Riding into the criminally heavy breakdown had me picturing how nasty some of these songs would play out in a live setting. “Trip” was a necessary sonic break, and features some of the best production on the album thus far. The breather was much appreciated. Moving into “Don’t Start” from “Trip” was a cleaner experience than hearing the track as a single, similar to my experience with “Smile”. I found myself headbanging along to the catchy riffs that Jason Meadows, yet again, flawlessly executes here. Unfortunately, despite loving the vocal melodies and the slower pace of “Medicine”, what seems to be some sort of fuzzy filter over the entire track is an aesthetic choice I couldn’t get behind. This cut felt like a missed opportunity, because although the aforementioned vocal melodies and pacing is fantastic, the quality of the track is diluted by this effect, and gives the impression of listening to the song from a laughably low-quality microphone.
However, “Wine” seems to have been curated to blow every single track on this album out of the water. The slow introduction of every instrument and vocal to build up the track is an experience in its own right, and makes for the perfect closer track. I am a firm believer in the final song of an album being the most important, and Banks Arcade delivers. The emotional chorus was all I needed to hear to make my decision; this was, without a doubt, my favorite track. A quiet roll grows into a fit of hammering rage from drummer James Feekes that slows back into an extended version of what is, without a doubt, the best chorus on the album. “Wine” is a sonic representation of the emotion that Future Lovers is aiming for, and I think the band accomplished everything they set out to achieve with this closing track, shutting down the story of the album masterfully.
Future Lovers is certainly an album of well manufactured structure, flow, and execution. This is not only a phenomenal album, but an impressive debut LP from a band that I was terrified of falling out of love with, even after the singles initially failed to maintain my attention. With a variety of unique songs that manage to weave even the relatively weaker cuts in a way that flows and makes sense, there is something to appreciate about every track here. Banks Arcade continues to astonish me and move forward with a confidence that is genuinely inspiring to observe through the development of their sound, and they have set themselves up for guaranteed success with the amount of flexibility they have. With Future Lovers, they have cemented that as they continue to chip away at a place for themselves in the rugged landscape of the industry, I will certainly be keeping tabs on what’s to come from them.
8.5/10
Future Lovers will be available next Friday, July 29th via UNFD, and you can find pre-orders for the album here.