Album Review: Santigold Brings You A Summer In Dancehall
I swear that Santigold summoned her inner Sister Nancy for I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions, and created a mixtape meant to bring the Caribbean heat to your summer. When Dembow and Danchall are blended to course you from the French to the Spanish areas of the Caribbean, you KNOW you are a about to get down.
As a Caribbean girl, myself, Santigold’s album feels like another bridge between mainstream pop and afro-latin culture. Fresh, spontaneous, and combusting with rhythms that introduce a new dynamism to Santigold, I Don’t Want is a surprise record in every way. With no warning, it was dropped, and pushed Santigold to let her creativity flow into new depths and paces. While her meticulous ear for production, catchy hooks, and lyrical verses that chop insightfulness into digestible sound-bytes remain, I Don’t Want feels freer in spirit. Yet, that is the Caribbean. You will not find a place more relaxed into the mind-frame that human beings are spiritual beings.
Santigold – I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions (Full Mix)
From “Run The Road” to “Crashing Your Party,” beats writhe like shaking, swaying hips. Every melody feels like hammock to Santigold’s distinct voice, where she is able to lay her voice down as if it were another sun-soaked rhythm. Yet, do not be fooled. Santigold never goes an album with dropping verses that steer humanity’s moral compass. From immigration to capitalism, she spits and sings rhymes that are loaded with knowledge and morality, but you might not catch it on first listen because you will be dancing. This has always been Santigold’s “good problem” because it makes the listener work harder in deciphering how to consume all that she gives.
Santigold – Run The Road (Official Audio)
There are artists that hit you with what they say, immediately, and then there are those that are so rich, every listen reveals a new textured, layer to their design. Santigold’s I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Session is the latter. It is a towel wrapping you after a beach swim, and warming you as time goes by. In that warmth, you will find Santigold’s genius and compassion. Moreover, you will see that music is turning more to Afro-Latin rhythms. From Cardi B to Stefflon Don and Rihanna, more artists are lining up, like Santigold, with the Caribbean for their sound. For More Information on Santigold Click Here.
