SANTIGOLD plays Kool Haus May 15. See listing. Rating: NNNN
It’s been an excruciating four-year wait for Santi White’s sophomore record. Early singles for Master Of My Make-Believe – Go! featuring the indomitable Karen O, and Disparate Youth, a blissed-out rebel yell – indicated that it would deliver in the same supersaturated, genre-blurring, macro-focused way that made her debut feel so important.
My Make-Believe is a refined continuation of Santi’s dubby, militarized, post-punk experimentation. But it’s also a bit wearier than its comparatively perky predecessor. Disparate Youth (produced by Ricky Blaze, who did Gyptian’s Hold Yuh) and God From The Machine prove Santi’s one of those rare pop visionaries, like David Byrne or Prince or even The-Dream, capable of writing searing, lighters-up hooks laced with too-human discomfort. Freak Like Me, a kinetic dancehall twister, is offset by the wide-eyed melancholy of The Riot’s Gone. Santi’s vocals lean heavily on rogue dissonance, but there’s peace amongst the candied synth tones, handclaps and hip-propelling force of songs like This Isn’t Our Parade and The Keepers.
Top Track: Disparate Youth
