Motherhood, writer's 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 Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions
, this time
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, they're 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
' 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.
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, there's 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 "Ain't Ready," which features assists from
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 it's like when she doesn't feel that way. She shares her worries as freely on
as she shared her joy on her earlier albums, and it's just as compelling. "My Horror," a deceptively sweet lullaby of stasis that unleashes its dread slowly, is one of the album's greatest creative achievements, as is the haunting desperation of "The Lasty."
pushes
's 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