Despite the four-year gap between her debut album and its forthcoming follow up, Santi White, aka Santigold, hasn't been idle. In fact, it's possibly easier to list the people she hasn't collaborated with in that time than the ones she has. In short, she's worked with everyone from new wave legends Devo to Christina Aguilera; appeared on albums by Spank Rock, NASA and the Beastie Boys and is set to appear on forthcoming songs by Amadou & Mariam and possibly Earl Sweatshirt. Plus, in that time she's also changed her name, going from Santogold to Santigold, owing to her previous moniker's similarity to the science fiction film Santo Gold's Blood Circus.
While the collaborations have been thick and fast, actual new Santigold material finally emerged in May last year in the shape of the excellent Karen O-featuring Go!, but was then followed by more silence. It was only last month that she properly announced her return with the forthcoming Master of My Make-Believe album, which was proceeded by the fairly ridiculous Big Mouth, a clattering, drum-heavy racket that sounded like a lost MIA song. The much easier-on-the-ear Disparate Youth is the album's first "proper" single and it's an absolute corker, all sleek new-wave keyboards mixed with frantic bursts of guitar and Santigold's intriguingly emotionless delivery. Never one to shy away from an odd video treatment – the LES Artistes video features her sitting motionless on a horse while extras pull green sausages out of each others' stomachs – here she visits a remote Jamaican island run by children whom she then transfixes with a special ring until everyone has completely white eyes. As you do.
The Disparate Youth EP featuring remixes by Switch and 2 Bears is out on 8 March. Master of My Make-Believe is out via Atlantic on 1 May. You can see the video here.
