Following her ’22 foray into heavy metal with the album Squeeze, indie rock chameleo SASAMI returns with her latest album Blood On the Silver Screen due March 7th via Domino. The latest single “In Love With A Memory” featuring Clairo is out now with a California sun-glazed desert video.
Visually as far from Squeeze (and the morphing silver tentacles of its visualizers) as you can get, SASAMI drives down a desert road in a red vintage car clad in cowboy double denim, reminiscent of Hollywood westerns. The industry trend toward romanticizing the dusty American west isn’t over yet, though it’s SASAMI’s first time trying it on. “Take me back to the open road where / the wind can blow in my hair / and the sun can kiss my face, I need to feel alive,” she sings in her most soft, pop-affected voice yet.
So soft and sweet in fact that the transition to Clairo’s verse is almost imperceptible; there’s little contrast between the two singers. But Clairo’s feature is still significant to the fans, and to SASAMI. “Claire has been a longtime, long distance friend and dream collaborator for me, so it was such a magnificent gift for her to lend her voice to the narrative. I really imagine this track as cinematic duet with a ghost,” she says in a press release.
Another notable collab on “In Love With A Memory” is producer Rostam, who SASAMI says brought out more of her classical side. All that plus 2010s pop influences like Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry is what you can expect from Blood On the Silver Screen. SASAMI says this album transformed her relationship to pop music. “I was always a weirdo outsider and I didn’t feel like pop music spoke to me. Being a woman of color, I’ve always felt this pressure or need to make something that’s mysterious or innovative, and always shied away from lightheartedness.” This record is her reckoning with the norm.
On May 3rd, SASAMI comes to Philly’s Underground Arts. The full tour dates are listed below.