Stephen Thompson | November 21, 2022
The Tiny Desk often forces radical changes to an artist's sound and style, but Santigold faced more than most. There was the live band assembled for the occasion, which included George Lewis Jr. (aka Twin Shadow) on bass and drummer Chuck Treece, who's worked with everyone from Bad Brains to Billy Joel. There was the lack of a microphone — and, by extension, vocal amplification — not to mention the fact that, as Santigold herself noted, "I don't know what I'm doing up here with no dancers."

Fortunately, Santi White has been revising and reinventing her sound for two decades now. If anything, performing her genre-straddling R&B and electro-pop with a live band represented a return to roots, given that she'd spent the early aughts singing in the punk band Stiffed — with Treece on drums, in fact. Everything about this set feels like the culmination of hard work, from the custom arrangements to the singer's hair/hat combo, an architectural marvel that warrants closer inspection. Given that Santigold had canceled her North American tour weeks earlier — she flew into D.C. for this occasion — it's a wonder her Tiny Desk debut even happened. Thank goodness it did.

SET LIST
"L.E.S. Artistes"
"I'm A Lady"
"Shake"
"Fall First"
"Ain't Got Enough"

MUSICIANS
Santigold (Santi White): vocals
Ray Brady: guitar, synth
Chuck Treece: drums
George Lewis, Jr. (Twin Shadow): bass
Melanie Nyema: background vocals
Stephany Mora: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Abby O'Neill
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Creative Director: Bob Boilen
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Michael Zamora, Sofia Seidel
Audio Assistant: Natasha Branch
Production Assistant: Jill Britton
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Kara Frame, Ashley Pointer, Teresa Xie
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#nprmusic #tinydesk #santigold