Spirituals

Album review

Santi White—Santigold—called her latest album Spirituals in reference to Negro spirituals: songs that traditionally "served the purpose of getting Black people through the un-get-throughable," she has said. More specifically, it was written during the dark moments of the pandemic lockdown. "Recording this album was a way back to myself after being stuck in survival mode … I wasn't only creating music but a lifeline," the singer added. "California was on fire, we were hiding from a plague, the social justice protests were unfolding. I'd never written lyrics faster in my life." You can practically hear her running on "My Horror," a track as catchy as anything she's ever done. The island-breezy music makes you do a double take at the lyrics: "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." It's weirdly uplifting—we've all been there and all too recently— when she callsl out "me and my hor-ror!" "Witness" finds Santigold feeling momentarily reassured ("Got everybody safe up in my room") but the choppy rhythms signify how that could change on a dime ("Not everybody sane up in my room/ Won't ever be the same when it's over"). There are moments of unsure contemplation about the future, as when she sings "Will we all grow wings and fly/ Will we change or will we die" on the reggae-kissed "Ushers of The New World." Of course, the summer of 2020 wasn't just about the fear of being stuck at home forever, it was also about people coming together—or being afraid to—to protest racial and social injustice. "No Paradise," with its polyrhythmic textures you get stuck into, is both celebration of change and fury that it's still being stymied. "Thieve, break, take/ More power/ Seize, lie, steal/ More power," she chants, before delivering the death blow: "Won't be waiting all my life for no paradise." In fact, there are many moments of claiming power, in ways effusive, fed up and completely self-assured. "High Priestess" is all cool confidence, against a backdrop of '80s New Wave synth. "They talk about bitches, they talk/ That shit stop at me/ Now bow down, don't freak out/ In the presence of a queen" is Beyoncé-worthy. (A former punk kid in the Philly band Stiffed, Santigold has called the track "the future of punk rock." Meanwhile, goth-punk "Fall First" comes on like Siouxsie and the Banshees.) " A stripped-down funk delight produced with SBTRKT, "Shake" posits a simple solution to the world getting you down—don't go stagnant or give in to the paralysis of fear—but the medicine tastes sweet: "You got to shake!" Santigold implores. "Ain't Ready" is her "battle song," and it is tough as nails. "All want it yeah, we want what we had," goes her siren call. But even better than getting something back? Embracing rebirth: "Hey hey it won't never come back." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz