Spirituals

Motherhood, writers block, and the COVID-19 global pandemic all contributed to Santi White taking a longer hiatus from music than she expected. Spirituals, her fourth album as Santigold, also upends expectations. Instead of the playful cultural critique of 99 Cents or the sunny vibes of I Dont Want: The Gold Fire Sessions, this time Santigold offers music made in and for difficult times. She brings her focus inward, crafting hypnotic, often moody songs about building and showing resilience; as always, theyre expertly crafted, with ear-catching production choices aplenty. With its warping, metallic synth tones, "Witness" is equally melancholy and mechanical, while the tantalizingly brief SBTRKT collaboration "Shake" provides Spirituals clearest connection to its namesake with a nervy, soulful pulse that feels like a 21st century update on the galvanizing traditional songs of the Black community. Santigold also excels at bridging the past, present, and future of her own music. "High Priestess" taps into the searching, hard-to-pin-down energy that made Santogold songs like "L.E.S. Artistes" and "Creator," but on this track and the rest of the album, theres a world-weary undercurrent that adds depth and urgency. White delivers a bona fide anthem in "No Paradise," a lilting command to seize the moment that culminates in an empowering chant, and steels herself for whatever her comes her way on "Aint Ready," which features assists from SBTRKT and Illangelo. On songs like this and "Fall First," a punky collaboration with Rostam Batmanglij, she sounds indomitable, but more importantly, she lets listeners know what its like when she doesnt feel that way. She shares her worries as freely on Spirituals as she shared her joy on her earlier albums, and its just as compelling. "My Horror," a deceptively sweet lullaby of stasis that unleashes its dread slowly, is one of the albums greatest creative achievements, as is the haunting desperation of "The Lasty." Spirituals pushes Santigolds music forward while shoring up its strengths -- and for perhaps the first time since her debut, it feels like art that she had to make for herself. ~ Heather Phares