Santogold is the new solo and self styled project from Santi White, who has written for Lily Allen, sung for Mark Ronson, and at Bjork’s request, opened for her with a Santogold set at New York’s Madison Square Gardens. As you’ve probably gathered ‘Santogold’ is one of the most eagerly awaited debuts of 2008. It opens with last year’s excellent single ‘L.E.S. Artistes’, which gets us off to a fine groovy electro start, with soaring choruses and flashes of Cyndi Lauper. ‘You’ll Find A Way’ is cute punky pop with dub elements and a nice little skank, that hints at 70’s American New Wave and 80’s Kim Wilde, and ‘Shove It’ takes an On U Sound route, complete with a cheeky chant, ‘We think you’re a joke, shove your hope where it don’t shine’. All in all ‘Santogold’ is packed with well crafted pop songs, that are twisted, tweaked and bent out of shape, until they’re sounding like something new and fresh. You’re gonna be seeing a lot of Santogold in 2008, pop’s got a new princess, one with an edge.
4 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Dean Thatcher