Santigold- Spirituals

A Santigold release is always something to look forward to. She’s been in the game as a solo force for a little over a decade now (and even before that producing and writing for some really big names) and has kept popping up every few years or so with something new to dig into. From her very first album, the genre-blending self-titled release Santigold (originally Santogold), to the Dancehall mixtape of 2016's I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions (which had a hold on me for a solid month on the first few tracks alone) Santi has that special knack for creating a sound that is at once unpredictable and undeniably hers. With Spirituals, her first release in 6 (!) years, we get that familiar dose of the unknown and the familiar that once it sinks in, it’s hard to get its hooks out.

Hey you, hey you
Think I got a, a hole in my head
I think all the numbness finally sank in
It's making my head decay, head decay
When I walk by they screamin'
"Isn't anybody home in there, home in there?"
I know when they wind me up
I can make it through hell and back, hell and back

Me in my horror
A day in my horror
Me in my horror
Just a day in my horror

Off the jump with ‘My Horror’ we cruise in on a laid back Ragga infused groove with where the sweet vocals sneak in the underlying darkness of the lyrics. This album is Santigold’s most consistently cloud covered release to date, and tracks like ‘Nothing,’ ‘The Lasty,’ and ‘Ain’t Ready’ bare this shadow the most clearly. However, even the more up-tempo tracks are flavored with a touch of darkness, such as the banging first single ‘High Priestess’ (a highlight track) where the running percussion and creeping bass march along to lyrics that are at once self-affirmations and a threat.

They talk about bitches, they talk
That shit stop at me
Now bow down, don't freak out
In the presence of a queen
They talk about big things, don't make none
'Cause deep down they sleep
Watch how-to vids, while to the top
I got a ticket going one way

Hey, pretty
Ah, you really want my thunder
I guard the gates here
Guard the secrets while you wonder
Hey, pretty
Ah, you really want my thunder
I guard the gates here
Guard the secrets while you wonder.

The unflinching power of ‘High Priestess’ is followed by a solemn organ and weary vocal performance of ‘Ushers of The New World,’ where Santi meditates on the exhausting but necessary work of setting right a world on fire. It’s funereal yet still optimistic. For as dark as this album gets its never a dour listening experience, as there’s a clear balance between the tracks and just as your heartrate begins to slow we get the pumping halfway tracks ‘Witness’ with its woozy electronica and distorted vocals and the dramatic uplift of ‘Shake,’ the grooviest track on the album.

We don't got to wonder
It all comes in time
I won't buckle under pressure
I'ma be alright
I won't ever follow
If I know the way
But if you got my back
I got you, set your worry free

You got to shake
Shake
You got to shake
Shake, shake
Got to shake
Shake
You got to shake
Shake, shake

The album comes to a close with a gathering of highlights like the highly danceable and revolutionary ‘No Paradise’ which holds my favorite vocal (lead and backing) performance but is almost out done by the fiery closer, ‘Fall First’, with its furious guitar riffs, and angry percussion. Santigold always has a stunning track to close out each of her albums and this one is no exception.

See my plans all fall apart
I can't feel nothing in my heart
I was in my room
And you knew exactly what to do
I know who you are
I wanna dance when I look at you
I want my heart awake
But don't want my earth to quake

We're going far, far, give me your hand now

We're going faster than I can take
I slam the brakes, but you say, "No way"
And in no time 'fore you know
We're there

It’s hard to say when Santigold is at her best because she always excels in every genre she blends together and mixes up to create her singular sound. However, as her last album indicated she can do a full dance album and knock it loose with the same dedication and fury. On Spirituals we get Santi at her darkest and most Autumnal (shout out to that September release date ushering in the new season!) but instead of the soggy dirge that it could have been there’s still that signature playfulness and hypnotic instrumentation that only Santigold can provide. She’s simply one of the most consistently interesting artists working.

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