Portraits: Jacob Banks

As he unveils his latest single, “Unknown (To You)” we catch up with the Birmingham digital soul singer-songwriter for a special portrait shoot. Photos by Joseph Sinclair. Jacob Banks’ The Boy Who Cried Freedom EP is out now, see the video for “Unknown (To You)” here. The video, with a young boy dealing with a difficult relationship with his father was written by artist himself. He explained to Billboard “I think the relationship is very tender between man-and-man because life teaches men to pretend to be okay all the time, and even when we’re not we have to always put on this brave face...I think it takes greater strength to be vulnerable than it is to pretend to be strong all the time.” Banks also told NYLON why he describes his sound as ‘digital soul’ “Soul is a genre that, in the sense of black culture, doesn’t really take many forms. Now being in the digital age, what I do is try to introduce sounds that aren’t really synonymous with soul. I’m not trying to be Marvin Gaye or Al Green or anything. I’m trying to be Jacob Banks, and Jacob Banks likes Al Green just as much as he likes Frank Ocean or Kanye West”. Jacob Banks is set for his first US headline tour through November, before returning to the UK for shows in London, Manchester and Birmingham in December.