SantoGOLD!

A recent questionnaire circulated at my university asked some students to vote for their favourite album of the year. Whilst the nominees certainly deserved (or at least I imagine they were, some of them, I must shamefully admit I hadn’t heard of) their place on the list, I felt that a major omission was Santogold’s debut album. This is without doubt my album of the year. Track after track demonstrates her lyrical dexterity wowed me to such an extent that I could complain the album wasn’t long enough. In some ways the album does appear to end too soon and the final (non-bonus) track didn’t leave me wholly satisfied with my musical fix but then that can surely only be a shrewd commercial move come the arrival of her next album. All the same the album delighted me at every turn, but the stand-out track for me was ‘You’ll Find a Way’. It achieved that musical feat of encapsulating the psychological ‘fight or flight’ complex. This might appear an odd comment to make about a track (panic attacks might not seem to characterise a good song) but I definitely mean it as a compliment. It’s the sense of urgency in the song that I love and which makes it my favourite on the album, it runs with the listener and raises their heart-rate, these all seem good aspects to me! This all seems to be turning a little pretentious in its language but the album is amazing and I would urge you, if you haven’t already, to buy and listen to it. I await her (difficult?) second album and hope it doesn’t disappoint.