What a week it has been. We started Monday with awful weather and terrible driving conditions and are ending Friday with tolerable weather and terrible road conditions. Winter has really taken its toll on Toronto and we're only halfway through the season. I am ready for spring! With spring comes sunnier days, slightly warmer weather and Coachella. 

 

I have always loved stalking my socials for what people are wearing to Coachella. This year though, I switched gears and instead looked at the artist line up to find what people are listening to rather than the fashion this year at Coachella. I am hoping to work my way through the entire artist list before April when Coachella takes place. Quite a daunting task. When I started working my way through the list a lot of the artists were electronic and honestly, I think I have realized that I do not like electronic music, so I will be skipping all electronic artists that come up in the future.

 

Of the 19 artists I have checked out thus far, I did find one needle in the haystack: Jacob Banks. His EP titled The Boy Who Cried Freedom is only 15 minutes long and an easy listen. Before I get into the music though, let's take a curt look at his journey. His eventual music career began with a guitar which he bought for its style and then only picked up to play out of pure boredom. With only YouTube tutorials as his musical education, he later started songwriting at the age of 20, influenced by albums such as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Continuum. Jacob first emerged in 2013 when his debut EP 'The Monologue' was released. He was played by DJ Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 and then toured with Emeli Sandé in the spring of the same year. From there he toured with other singers such as Alicia Keys and Sam Smith,  worked with multiple artists in features and has released his own LP as well as a joint LP.

 

The Boy Who Cried Freedom cannot be described musically in a single word. He pulls influence from various genres such as soul, R&B, and blues. He also uses a mix of both synthetic sounds and genuine instruments to create an enchanting concoction of sound. My favourite song off of the EP is Mercy with Chainsmoking coming in a close second. I really like the way that he uses his voice in both of those songs to convey passion in key words and the slight grit in his voice when he sings a note deep and loud.