SASAMI - Blood On The Silver Screen

For anyone familiar with SASAMI’s previous record, 2022’s ‘Squeeze’, the singer’s about-turn on its follow-up may catch you a little off-guard. While the thrashing nu-metal and sludgy industrial sonics that punctuated her sophomore release appear to be a thing of the past, on ‘Blood On The Silver Screen’ the musical polymath finds herself entering amore vibrant, buoyant pop chapter. An artist that’s always seemed focussed on shapeshifting, unsurprisingly, she wears this new vision well, channelling the gutsy, confidence-boosting spirit of the genre across the album’s thirteen tracks. 

Take the sass-laden opener ‘Slugger’ (“Whoever said it’s better to have loved and to lost / Than to not have loved at all / Should just shut up forever,” she almost deadpans), with its Dolly Parton nod and infectiously danceable chorus; the shimmering melodrama of ‘80s-indebted ‘I’ll Be Gone’; or the dark, club-driven ‘Possessed’, a track that wouldn’t be out of place on Caroline Polachek’s next project. But equally, there are still moments where the SASAMI of old rears her head, whether via the squalling guitars that open ‘Love Makes You Do Crazy Things’, or the grungey inflections of closing track ‘The Seed’, a slinking, hypnotic offering that soon gives way to a gloriously thrashy chorus. Will SASAMI be challenging those at pop’s top table for their spots any time soon? Perhaps not, but this latest metamorphosis feels invigorating for both the genre, and the singer herself.