Sasami Ashworth, known mononymously as Sasami, is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

Sasami
Sasami performing in 2018
Background information
Birth name	Sasami Ashworth
Born	(1990-06-23) June 23, 1990 (age 32)
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock country rock alternative metal
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals keyboards bass guitar French horn
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Domino
Formerly of	Cherry Glazerr
Website	sasamiashworth.com

Early life and career

Early life

Sasami comes from a Zainichi family.[1] After Sasami graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 2012, she scored and made orchestral arrangements for films, commercials and studio albums, and worked as a music teacher in Los Angeles, where she is currently based and makes music. In 2015, she joined the American rock band Cherry Glazerr with whom she played synths and toured for two and a half years before announcing her departure in January 2018 to pursue her solo musical career.[2][3]

Sasami (2019)

On April 3, 2018, Sasami shared her first solo track "Callous" on SoundCloud, which Pitchfork awarded with their "Best New Track" label.[4] On October 9, Domino Recording Company announced that Sasami had signed to their label, and officially released "Callous" alongside a new song titled "Not the Time", premiered by The Fader, who called Sasami "rock's next big thing."[5] Sasami stated, "I wrote both of these songs on tour on a guitar on my iPad with GarageBand plugins and Moog 15 app sounds and then re-recorded them in the studio onto tape with really great tones. So it's kind of like emotionally scribbling a letter on a tear and snot-stained napkin and then re-writing it on fancy papyrus paper to make it look like you have your shit together."[5] The songs were released on a 7" vinyl on October 26.[6] Throughout 2018, Sasami toured with various musicians, including Baths, No Joy, King Tuff,[7] Mitski, Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail and Menace Beach.[5][8] On January 9, 2019, Sasami announced her eponymous debut studio album, Sasami, and released its third single, "Jealousy". A fourth single, "Free" featuring Devendra Banhart, was released on February 14,[9] before the album was released on March 8, 2019.[10]

Squeeze (2022)

On February 25, 2022, Sasami released her second album, Squeeze, on Domino Records. In an interview for The New York Times, Sasami described Squeeze as an attempt to "appropriate white, male music[Metal]." "It is such a cis white male space… There is room for someone like me to come in and make a mess in it."[11] According to the album's Bandcamp page, Squeeze "surveys the raw aggression of nu-metal, tender plainspokeness of country-pop and folk rock, and dramatic romanticism of classical music.[12] According to the independent music review site Northern Transmissions, "The impetus for Squeeze grew out of rage—that which brewed over the pandemic and which fuelled global marches against racism and climate change—and a visceral experience at a Barishi show, where Ashworth thrashed ecstatically among an impassive audience."[13] The album cover was designed Andrew Thomas Huang and Rin Kim. The snake-like imagery was inspired by Nure-onna, a Japanese folk creature.[14] When writing squeeze, Sasami drew upon a version of the Nure-onna story in which the creature "entices passersby and, depending on whether she judges them to be a good person or not, either lets them go without incident or drains their blood."[14]

Recording

Squeeze was written and recorded mostly at the Mt Washington studio Log Mansion.[11][14] The album features numerous collaborations, including performances by Hand Habits, and King Tuff.[11] The record features several drum and percussion performances by Ty Segall, who co-produced the songs ‘Skin A Rat’, ‘The Greatest, ‘Say It’, ‘Make it Right, and ‘Squeeze’.[14] The album also features contributions from Megadeth’s Dirk Verbeuren, jazz drummer Jay Bellerose, and the London experimental artist No Home. The album was engineered by Kyle Thomas and Sasami.[14]

Reception

Squeeze received generally favorable reviews upon its release. Consequence of Sound ranked Squeeze 13th in their 30 best albums of 2022 (so far) and called Squeeze "a daunting feat other artists couldn’t even dream of attempting".[15] Stereogum awarded Squeeze ‘album of the week’ calling it "an intriguing and invigorating play in contrasts" and a "showcase for Ashworth’s production skills" that "highlights her discerning taste in collaborators"[14] Pitchfork gave the album a 7.3 out of 10 and called the album's unique blend of genres "awfully fun".[16] Northern Transmissions gave the album an 8 out of 10.[13] Paste Magazine gave it an 8 out of 10.[17]

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Credits

References

External links

• Official website
• Sasami discography at MusicBrainz