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Sep 8, 2014Confident and complex, it's a standout debut from one of the most promising artists of the last few years.
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Sep 3, 2014Banks' sonic ambition and willingness to risk alienating a pop audience with Goddess' gloomy, tweaky beats are admirable. (They also make for a great headphone experience.) But ironically, the album's most arresting moment is also its most conventional.
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MojoSep 12, 2014Goddess weaves a captivating spell that many are certain to fall under. [Oct 2014, p.87]
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Sep 10, 2014Beats skitter, churn, and bubble with a menacingly magical quality but never do they outshine BANKS' vocals.
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Sep 4, 2014The Tim Anderson-produced Someone New and Under the Table sink into nondescript ballad territory, but otherwise Goddess is an accomplished debut.
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Sep 4, 2014A bewitching, and surprisingly diverse debut, it looks like Jillian Banks more than lives up to the hype.
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Sep 2, 2014Banks has a universal appeal that’ll see her soar to the tops of charts, into high-profile festival spots, and slide into awards season like she’s covered in butter.
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Q MagazineAug 29, 2014Goddess is a while world to get lost in and it looks like Banks is a star just waiting to happen. [Oct 2014, p.104]
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Sep 5, 2014It asks listeners to love it, and its creator, for both flaws and attributes. Fortunately, the latter far outweigh the former, announcing Banks as a well-rounded songwriter and singer that deserves a lot of the attention she has earned so early in her career.
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Sep 17, 2014Banks is at her best when roiling in the uncertainty that accompanies desire both thwarted and fulfilled.
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Sep 11, 2014While Goddess could have used some better editing, it still reveals glimpses of an artist who could shape the sounds of the times instead of just reflecting them.
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Sep 9, 2014If there’s anything missing from Goddess, it’s something that could set Banks apart from the lanscape of beats + vocals that’s so saturated today.
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Sep 9, 2014Her debut LP confirms a beguiling, diaristic voice that echoes avant-pop forebears (Aaliyah, Fiona Apple, Kate Bush) and a taste for gloomy, synth-centric productions.
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Sep 8, 2014Out in a naturalistic realm, supported by the music rather than encased by it, Banks sounds more ordinary. She’s at her best facing down a sterile, indifferent universe.
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Sep 8, 2014Her debut LP is good, but not up to the standard its title suggests.
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UncutAug 29, 2014Banks is an earnest singer with an ear for complex anthems--she's at her best when letting big emotions rip. [Oct 2014, p.67]
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Aug 29, 2014A fine balance has been struck--along with no little gold.
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Aug 29, 2014Several of Goddess's tracks are carryovers from last year's Fall Over and London EPs, which partly explains the deluxe edition's daunting 18-track, 76-minute runtime. While they add some variety to an album that veers dangerously close to homogenous.
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Sep 8, 2014Nearly half its tracks have seen the light of day already, not least the standout Waiting Game. The remainder offer up a more conventional take on the sound than Banks's British counterpart, FKA Twigs.
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Sep 8, 2014Banks’ debut, sometimes promising and even wonderful, could have been revelatory.
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Sep 11, 2014Yet for all the individual moments of sleek electronic beauty, Goddess as a whole often sounds frustratingly unconvincing and almost fragmented in its production.
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Sep 9, 2014Banks could certainly go places--but Goddess doesn't, and instead seems content to wallow in the same depressive rut for an exhausting 59 minutes.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 150 out of 166
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Mixed: 7 out of 166
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Negative: 9 out of 166
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Sep 11, 2014
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Sep 9, 2014
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Oct 29, 2016