The fish are back again, so it could only really mean one thing. I have finally placed my paws on the debut album by
Santogold! As expected it is nothing less than brilliant if a little more eclectic than I had once thought it might have been.
It is obvious why album opener "L.E.S. Artistes" was picked as the lead single. While it isn't the album's best song, it is surely one of the most accessible and shows off
Santi "
Santogold" White's pop flair. At the same time, "Lights Out" and "I'm A Lady" are also contenders to be the next single with their accessible pop-rock melodies and wonderful vocals.
"Creator", which has been a staple on her
MySpace site for a while now, is a much harder, grittier song than any of the three I've mentioned so far. It has hypnotic vocals, with White changing her voice at least three times during the course of the song, tribal beats and a heart-pounding
electro rhythm. Here, it is obvious that being friends with M.I.A. has an impact on you. On "You'll Find A Way", White's punk rock roots shine through in a torrent of wailing guitars and angry, relentless vocals. Her days as a member of Stiffed appear to have been worth it.
Meanwhile, there is also a more downbeat side to
Santogold that is equally as entrancing. "Anne" is dark and menacing, much like
Depeche Mode, while "My Superman" sounds like a track from
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Kaleidoscope" album. Both are charming and almost seductive but also dangerous, with White's voice taking a more sinister turn.
On her debut album,
Santogold has proved that bringing many different genres of music together can result in a magnificent product, far from the incoherent mess that might be expected of such an adventurous collection of songs.
