SASAMI has announced her sophomore album Squeeze — out February 25 on Domino — and shared two new songs, "Skin a Rat" and "The Greatest."
The largely self-produced record features production contributions from Ty Segall, plus musical contributions from King Tuff's Kyle Thomas, Moaning's Pascal Stevenson, No Home, Christian Lee Hutson and Hand Habits' Meg Duffy. It also includes SASAMI's previously released cover of Daniel Johnston's "Sorry Entertainer."
In a press release, the record is described as being inspired by SASAMI's mixed Korean and Japanese heritage, and particularly by the legend of Nure-onna, a vampiric deity represented on the Andrew Thomas Huang-created album cover.
The release continues, explaining:
The fluidity of the Nure-onna can be felt in how Squeeze naturally flows through musical influences — from System of a Down to Sheryl Crow and Fleetwood Mac, to even Bach and Mahler. A classically-trained composer, SASAMI constructed the LP in the form of an opera or orchestral work that has different "movements" that take the listener on an emotional journey. Compared to the introspective indie rock of SASAMI's 2019 self-titled debut album, Squeeze is a full-throttled expansion.
The dark, fantastical elements of the Nure-onna legend feeds into SASAMI's use of heavy rock elements throughout Squeeze. She hopes that listeners will identify with this new sinister, intense sound and use it as a soundtrack for processing their "anger, frustration, desperation, and more violent, aggressive emotions." Her ultimate desire is for marginalized folks, including femmes, BIPOC, and queer people, to listen to Squeeze and find catharsis from the oppression and violence that they experience.
The new singles are also the first two tracks on the record, and they represent a much heavier, metal-influenced direction than what we heard on SASAMI's 2019 self-titled debut. "The Greatest" has Meg Duffy on guitar and comes attached to a theatrical, VHS-fuzzed video directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford.
Vicious album opener "Skin a Rat" features drums from Megadeth's Dirk Verbeuren and backing vocals by Vagabon's Laetitia Tamko and actress and comedian Patti Harrison.
About the latter track, SASAMI described it as "a soundtrack to cathartic release of anger and frustration with oppressive systems and humans. Very nu-metal influenced. Wrote and demoed the whole song on my iPad with midi drums and hired an epic drummer to perform it live to tape."
SASAMI's debut solo record came out in 2019. Most recently she produced Hand Habits' Fun House.
Check out "The Greatest" and "Skin a Rat," plus the tracklist for Squeeze below.
Squeeze:
1. Skin a Rat
2. The Greatest
3. Say It
4. Call Me Home
5. Need It to Work
6. Tried to Understand
7. Make It Right
8. Sorry Entertainer
9. Squeeze (feat. No Home)
10. Feminine Water Turmoil
11. Not a Love Song
Pre-order Squeeze.
The largely self-produced record features production contributions from Ty Segall, plus musical contributions from King Tuff's Kyle Thomas, Moaning's Pascal Stevenson, No Home, Christian Lee Hutson and Hand Habits' Meg Duffy. It also includes SASAMI's previously released cover of Daniel Johnston's "Sorry Entertainer."
In a press release, the record is described as being inspired by SASAMI's mixed Korean and Japanese heritage, and particularly by the legend of Nure-onna, a vampiric deity represented on the Andrew Thomas Huang-created album cover.
The release continues, explaining:
The fluidity of the Nure-onna can be felt in how Squeeze naturally flows through musical influences — from System of a Down to Sheryl Crow and Fleetwood Mac, to even Bach and Mahler. A classically-trained composer, SASAMI constructed the LP in the form of an opera or orchestral work that has different "movements" that take the listener on an emotional journey. Compared to the introspective indie rock of SASAMI's 2019 self-titled debut album, Squeeze is a full-throttled expansion.
The dark, fantastical elements of the Nure-onna legend feeds into SASAMI's use of heavy rock elements throughout Squeeze. She hopes that listeners will identify with this new sinister, intense sound and use it as a soundtrack for processing their "anger, frustration, desperation, and more violent, aggressive emotions." Her ultimate desire is for marginalized folks, including femmes, BIPOC, and queer people, to listen to Squeeze and find catharsis from the oppression and violence that they experience.
The new singles are also the first two tracks on the record, and they represent a much heavier, metal-influenced direction than what we heard on SASAMI's 2019 self-titled debut. "The Greatest" has Meg Duffy on guitar and comes attached to a theatrical, VHS-fuzzed video directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford.
Vicious album opener "Skin a Rat" features drums from Megadeth's Dirk Verbeuren and backing vocals by Vagabon's Laetitia Tamko and actress and comedian Patti Harrison.
About the latter track, SASAMI described it as "a soundtrack to cathartic release of anger and frustration with oppressive systems and humans. Very nu-metal influenced. Wrote and demoed the whole song on my iPad with midi drums and hired an epic drummer to perform it live to tape."
SASAMI's debut solo record came out in 2019. Most recently she produced Hand Habits' Fun House.
Check out "The Greatest" and "Skin a Rat," plus the tracklist for Squeeze below.
Squeeze:
1. Skin a Rat
2. The Greatest
3. Say It
4. Call Me Home
5. Need It to Work
6. Tried to Understand
7. Make It Right
8. Sorry Entertainer
9. Squeeze (feat. No Home)
10. Feminine Water Turmoil
11. Not a Love Song
Pre-order Squeeze.