Written by Brandon George
The self-titled record of the mononymous project of former Cherry Glazerr synth player Sasami Ashworth was a statement of individuality and an act of establishing a footing.
SASAMI’s sophomore album, “Squeeze” is a statement of versatility and an act of transforming that footing into a fortress. Released February 25th, through Domino Recording Co, the album is sprawling, emotional, and brilliantly acidic.
The opening, which enlists the powerhouse drumming of Megadeth’s Dirk Verbeuren, is an immediate signifier of the depths to which SASAMI understands genre, and the benefits and limitations of it.
These songs like “Skin a Rat,” and the double-bass drum powered cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Sorry Entertainer,” approach metal with a contemporary lens and create something viscous and vicious.
Then there is “Say It,” an industrial track that barges in with distortion so heavy the choruses, with their crystal clear vocals and hyper-compressed drums, sound all the eerier. In contrast, tracks like “Call Me Home” and “Tried to Understand” bring profound lackadaise the likes of Fleetwood Mac.
SASAMI plays with the purposefulness of lyrical phrasing between the different styles of song as well. Where “Skin a Rat” is filled to the brim with short, acerbic barks, “Call Me Home” employs longer phrases with a proverbial essence to them. This ebb and flow of compositional and lyrical shapeshifting comes to a head toward the album’s close, where “Feminine Water Turmoil” employs a string quartet and a sludgy electric guitar to herald in the closing ballad.
To write in more than one genre is one thing. To write songs in more than one genre that present a deep understanding of differing tones and styles and have clear motivation and passion not only in their individuality, but as parts of the larger whole that is the album is an impossible task that SASAMI makes seem effortless.
You can find “Squeeze” out now on your preferred streaming service, and you can follow SASAMI on Twitter @sasamiashworth. Let us know what you thought of this album by tweeting us @lgndsoftmrw!