Minimalist R&B has hardly been in short supply in recent years, but Banks’s debut showed a sound enough grasp of hooks and crepuscular moods to deserve further attention. Two years on and having shed that bothersome next big thing tag, she has the chance to move her sound into more unusual territory. But though it’s enjoyable enough, The Altar feels like more of the same. It has the same merits as her debut: strong tunes and some twitchy, needling vocals, as on single Fuck With Myself, but the same shortcomings too. Strip away the tics and production fidgets and these songs aren’t hugely distinctive - they lack the arresting weirdness of artier peers such as FKA twigs.
