Ears Wide Open: Sasami

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Sasami (Photo by Alice Baxley
Sasami (Photo by Alice Baxley

Formerly the keyboard player for Cherry Glazerr, Sasami Ashworth announced she was leaving the band earlier this year to embrace a solo project. In April, she released “Callous,” part of a 7-inch together with “Not The Time,” shared today as part of an announcement that she’s signed to Domino Record Co. under the moniker Sasami. The two tracks were co-produced and recorded to tape by her brother Joo-Joo (of Froth) and Mr. Elevator’s Thomas Dolas at Studio 22 in Los Angeles. Both songs were originally written by Ashworth while on tour, about, she says, “Everyone I fucked and who fucked me last year.” To the point.

She goes on to explain the songs as diary entries or messages that go unsent. “Maybe it’s a mix of a diary and a collection of letters, written but never sent, to people I’ve been intimately involved with in one way or another. OK, maybe they’re more like over-dramatic drafts of texts that you compose in the Notes section of your iPhone, but either way they come from a place of getting something off my chest.”

“Callous” is a heartache confessional accompanied by a morose rock mood clocking in at five minutes with a lengthy instrumental to get the feelings poured out amid feedback. “Not The Time” is a little faster and aims at hopefulness but as her voice cracks on the final line, it’s likely there were a few tears still streaming in the writing.

||| Stream: “Not The Time” and “Callous”

||| Live: Sasami performs Oct. 16 at Teragram Ballroom, opening for Soccer Mommy. Tickets.