''Spirituals'' is the fourth studio album by American musician and singer
Santigold
Santi White (born September 25, 1976), known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. '' Billboard'' presented her in 2022, saying: "Spanning punk rock, hip-hop, and dance music, S ...
. It was released digitally and physically on vinyl on September 9, 2022 through Little Jerk Records. The CD was out on September, 30.
The lyrics address human
resilience. Santigold promoted ''Spirituals'' with singles and videos for "High Priestess", "Ain't Ready", "Nothing", "Shake", "Fall First", "My Horror" and "Witness".
The album received favorable reviews.
Background
Santigold had released the ''
I Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions'' mixtape in July 2018 and she had additionally appeared on two
Tyler, the Creator
Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future.
Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...
releases, ''
Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss' The Grinch'' in late 2018 and ''
Igor
Igor may refer to:
People
* Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name
* Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler
* Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling
* ...
'' in mid 2019, contributing vocals. ''Spirituals'' was recorded largely throughout the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, between 2020 and 2021 with lyrics inspired in part by the present time in the US. The album was an nod to the traditional Negro spirituals.
She stated: "I called it "''Spirituals''" because, for me, making this record was my own salvation, really. It was an opportunity to step out of survival mode. And the idea of using art and music in particular to transcend my circumstances and experience freedom and joy and beauty in the absence of it in my environment to me was the same thing that Negro spirituals did for slaves in a time where they were able to experience freedom and joy through this music when their - in their environments, they were not free, and there wasn't - it wasn't joyous."
Santigold explained that the writing process was cathartic. It was "creating light for me to move towards"; "I’m so lucky to know that creating, just the act of creating, can do that for me, can save me that way, can lift me up." She described ''Spirituals'' as a "celebration of human resilience."
In mid-April 2021, Santigold shared a picture of her final days in the studio to social media. In June 2021, Santigold featured on
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Robbi ...
's ''
The Fader
''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes.
It is o ...
Uncovered'' podcast. She confirmed details of her upcoming album, which was being mixed at the time, sharing the title and stating:
Music
''Spirituals'' incorporates
pop beats,
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
,
tropicalia,
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
,
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
,
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
,
and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
.
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' wrote that on ''Spirituals'' opener "My Horror", "she combines subtle electronica with flashes of ukulele". "High Priestess" was described as s a "powerful slice of glitchy rap pop, pitted against fierce lyrical wordplay". Heather Phares described it as "a deceptively sweet lullaby of stasis that unleashes its dread slowly".
''
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
'' wrote about the songs: "She shares her journey to ascension and invites us to participate with tropical rhythms that simultaneously haunt and uplift". ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' wrote that Santigold opened to love on the closing track "Fall First", saying: "her passion is channelled through an unlikely vintage post-punk lens, complete with a motorik beat, an ominous bassline and cavernous reverb".
Release
The album was released worldwide on
CD. A picture disc edition
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...
LP - limited to 7,500 copies- was also made available from various retailers including
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, "Roughtrade",
Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
, "Imusic", and Fnac.
Short music videos were shot and uploaded on Santigold's YouTube channel for the six singles taken from the album: "High Priestess", "Ain't Ready", "Nothing", "Shake", "Fall First" and "My Horror".
The lead single, "High Priestess", was released in May 2022, later followed by "Ain't Ready", alongside the album's announcement,
and "Nothing". ''Spirituals'' was released via Little Jerk Records label.
Critical reception
''Spirituals'' was met with mostly positive reviews. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 78, based on 14 reviews.
''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' rated it 4 out of 5 stars, saying that "fearless sonic pioneer leads the pack once again",
and ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' published a glowing review, praising the diversity of the styles, rating it 8 out of 10.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' rated it 4 out of 5 stars, sayining it was "a heartfelt lockdown journey through loneliness, triumph and rage".
''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' reviewer Heven Haile considered that Santigold "is pioneering an innovative soundscape" on ''Spirituals'' with "unsettlingly ethereal vocals", concluding that she "reimagines the type of music that can comfort people in times of grief and stagnation".
Another writer of the ''NME'' praised in particular the song "Fall First", saying: "Santi’s signature yelp fits like a glove over this sonic mixture".
Heather Phares of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
noted in general "hypnotic" songs "with ear-catching production choices aplenty" and how "Santigold also excels at bridging the past, present, and future of her own music".
Reviewer
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
hailed ''Spirituals'' as Santigold's best album yet, crediting her with "transmuting the atmospheric midtempo rock-as-electrodance she's long fiddled with so engagingly into something more ominous, almost as if she's observant enough to notice that she's living in history".
Track listing
Personnel
*
Joe LaPorta
Joseph J. LaPorta (born ) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in New Jersey.http://www.allmusic.com/artist/joe-laporta-mn000199340/credits/date-asc/
Career
Born and raised in New York, LaPorta graduated from New York Univer ...
–
mastering
* Alex Tumay –
mixing (tracks 1–5, 7, 10)
* Andrew Kim – mixing (1–5, 7, 10)
* Julian Picado – mixing (1–5, 7, 10)
* Mike BLoom – mixing (1–5, 7, 10)
* Noah Goldstein – mixing (6, 8, 9)
* Chris Kasych – recording
References
External links
Genre-defying Santigold shares what inspired her new album ''Spirituals''from
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
{{Santigold
2022 albums
Santigold albums
Albums produced by Rostam Batmanglij
Albums produced by Boys Noize
Albums produced by Illangelo