SASAMI's 'Jealousy' Video Casts A Compelling Spell

There's a sense of voraciousness in Sasami Ashworth's musical resumé. The LA-based artist has spent the past decade building a reputation as a stellar multi-instrumentalist, arranger and songwriter: playing French horn in local orchestras; touring for years playing synths with indie rock band Cherry Glazerr; contributing vocals and horn and string arrangements to albums by artists like Vagabon, Wild Nothing and Hand Habits. She's scored and made orchestral arrangements for albums, films and commercials and been a music teacher, too. So it should come as no surprise that her solo music is stunning, and her debut, self-titled album as SASAMI is impressive: finely crafted and introspective, elegant and bruised.

"Not The Time" and "Callous," two sharp, brooding songs SASAMI released in 2018, show up on SASAMI. And "Jealousy" — the album's first proper single — could soundtrack a day at the beach on acid, with its sun-drenched, off-kilter tone and Ashworth's Stereolab-reminiscent lilt.

Ashworth says she herself couldn't quite tell you what "Jealously" — the second song she's ever written — is about. "I think it's about freedom and individuality and releasing the toxic build-up of other humans' expectations that seeps in and calcifies on our hearts," she writes via email. She wrote and edited the video for "Jealousy," co-directing it with Kate Hollowell — and the bewitching, compelling visual perfectly suits the song's tone.

SASAMI is out March 8 via Domino.

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