Album Review: Sasami - Sasami

Sasami Ashworth is a Los Angeles singer-songwriter who’s been steadily making a name for herself over the past year, releasing a few singles and touring with respected indie-rock acts like Mitski, Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail. She’s a multi-instrumentalist who, until recently, was also the synth player in American rock band Cherry Glazerr. Since her departure from the group in 2018, she’s recorded her debut, self-titled album.

While Ashworth says the recording process happened at a hurried pace, making the most of recording sessions booked between touring commitments, it’s a languid guitar record that feels anything but rushed. Instead, it stretches itself out like a cat in the sun. “There’s nothing wrong with a half-finished song,” Ashworth sings with Devendra Banhart on Free.

This isn’t to suggest that Ashworth’s songwriting isn’t worth paying attention to. The album’s opening track is called I Was A Window, and though the idea is phrased in the past tense, it applies in the present as well; Ashworth’s songwriting often presents itself as a lens through which the listener can see themselves, dissolving barriers between the artist and audience. “Thought I was the only one/To be so alone in the night,” she sings as the record comes to a close. The song is called Turned Out I Was Everyone.