By Madeline Lines
The Montreal iconoclast cooks up a triumphant return with Word on the Street, a theatrical concept album sealed with a wedding to herself.
Jenny Banai Gets Rustic on “Gold (Solo Gal)”
The Vancouver singer-songwriter re-releases her poignant 2020 single with a stripped-back version.
by Ben Boddez
Photo by Jordyn Taylor Robins
- Published on
Vancouver indie-pop songwriter Jenny Banai has been thinking a lot lately about a song she released back in 2020, dropping two new versions of “Gold” over the past three weeks. Her latest release, accompanied by a video titled “Gold (Solo Gal),” is its most stripped-down version yet, removing the harmonies, drumbeat and bass line of the original to place the focus squarely on Banai’s striking singing voice and poetic lyricism.
Filmed against a wall of guitars and a rustic wooden backdrop at Abbotsford’s Five Acres Flower Farm and plugged into a vintage amplifier, Banai opens the video with a smirk and nod to the camera before coasting through nearly five minutes of one of the most impressive vocal performances you’ll hear all year. Scrunching her eyes shut as her guitar rings out and echoes around the room, Banai delivers a series of jazzy inflections and vocal runs with ease.
Although the lyrics concern Banai’s own personal journey, the repeated mantra longing for “peace and truth” certainly makes it feel like the track was aptly chosen for a re-release. “Every time I ponder this song, I am humbled in a new way,” she says. “I wrote it about my own repentance and longing for wholeness. Maybe I’m releasing it again, because I believe that it is possible for that longing to be fulfilled.”
By Cam Delisle
The pop futurist trades clarity for grit—and finds divinity in the mess—on her long-awaited fourth album.
By Cam Delisle
The Calgary singer-songwriter discusses their new single “FwL,” identity in motion, and how every track on their upcoming record tells the truth a little louder.
