On her second album Squeeze, Sasami Ashworth throws a curve ball by showing her vast tastes in music from 90's alt metal, noise rock, folk and indie rock. Just like on her debut, SASAMI shows off how cool she is... and how freaky she is too.
Sasami Ashworth, who goes by SASAMI, is an L.A. based musician, singer and songwriter. Initially as a touring member for indie pop band Cherry Glazerr, she stepped out and decided to go solo. A smart move in my opinion because SASAMI's initial output on her debut self-titled solo album gained the buzz and notoriety it truly deserves. SASAMI has the icy cold singer songwriter and indie rock songs that would make your heart break a la a Mitski record. It has an early DIY indie rock aesthetic that radiated 90's era indie. It has plenty of variety as well ranging from the darkened slow burners ("Turned Out I Was Everyone," "Free") to the immediately catchy and instantaneous ("Not the Time," "Morning Comes"). What also stands out about SASAMI is her personality through her music and songwriting. She can be very personal and charming through her hushed vocal delivery with standout, multi-layered guitar playing. After hearing SASAMI, one can definitely point out her style and playing.
This easy ability to describe SASAMI is completely thrown out the window on her second album titled Squeeze. The versatility on Squeeze is heightened tenfold, throwing in more genres of metal, nu metal, folk, indie rock, pop, garage rock and more. Most notably, there's an emphasis on 90's and early 2000's era noise rock and metal music throughout this record. Like SASAMI, the listening experience on Squeeze goes from intimately quietness to throat shredding chaos. Except this time, the chaos is dialed to eleven. If SASAMI is ice, then Squeeze is fire. The opening track, "Skin a Rat," reintroduces the early 2000's era hard rock and metal while the next track, "The Greatest," is a slow burning guitar ballad that's quite reminiscent of a Mitski ballad. The versatility continues with "Say It," a rocker with chugging guitars, a blaring drum machine, and a vocal pitched eerily low. "Call Me Home" is one of SASAMI's best written and performed ballads yet. It's beautifully crafted in a graceful way.
"Make It Right" may be SASAMI's most immediate pop tune yet, with a steadily bumping groove and straightforward harmonies (in a great way, they're very immediate and charming). The album's title track, featuring experimental rock artist No Home, is the album's weirdest moment. It starts out as a general rock tune and then transforms into a dreamlike state; as if the listener is being sucked into a black hole. Its harmonies are amazing and its warped sound makes it a big highlight for me. "Sorry Entertainer" is the album's biggest and best rager that fully envelopes 90's alt metal. "Feminine Water Turmoil" is an instrumental interlude full of drone guitars and dramatic strings, which is a cool moment on the record that glides into the folky closer "Not a Love Song."
I really do appreciate being thrown a curve ball by SASAMI on Squeeze. I always thought of her as a versatile artist and she proves even more so on her second album. Although some of the songs aren't as memorable as the ones from her debut, Squeeze still has plenty of highlights. I enjoyed the early 2000's throwbacks of metal and hard rock even though they aren't my favorite genres or eras by any stretch. Her balladry is still the strong and in my opinion her slow burners continue to be the most standout tracks in her early solo career. Overall Squeeze expresses Sasami Ashworth as a versatile singer songwriter and performer. Her personality and her vast tastes in music continue to become more and more apparent and unpredictable. Just like on her debut, SASAMI shows off how cool she is... and how freaky she is too.
My Rating: 7 / 10
Favorite Songs: "Squeeze," "Skin a Rat," "Make It Right," "Call Me Home," "The Greatest"
Commentaires