Banks
Goddess (Universal)

A little bit of attitude can go a long way. Banks gives every indication she understands this on Goddess, a lush comedown that drips sultriness while still displaying an edge. Consider the album’s ethereal multilayered title track, where the Los Angeles–based chanteuse stands up for her soul sisters everywhere with “She gave it all, you gave her shit/She coulda done just anything or anyone/’Cause she’s a goddess, you never got this.”

Later on, the artist sometimes known as Jillian Banks flips off the world with the not-so-delicately titled “Fuck Em Only We Know”, a love ballad presumably aimed at everyone except for the person she shares a bed with. Blunting the anger in such offerings are slow-drifting banks of synths and Banks’s effortlessly smouldering vocals, the whole effect made for endlessly melancholy fall days where the fog never seems to lift.

Unless Prozac happens to be your favourite recreational drug, Goddess isn’t the record you want to reach for when it’s time to get a party started. But when the last guest has cleared out and you’re stuck sad and alone yet again, you could do worse than sit down with Banks, mostly because, despite the attitude, it seems like she might feel your pain.