SASAMI has announced the follow-up to her self-titled debut album: it’s called Squeeze and comes out on February 25 through Domino. She has also given us two songs from it to tide us over in the meantime until its release.
First up is “The Greatest”, a power rocker which she introduces by saying: “This song is about how often the greatest, heaviest feelings we have for someone are in the absence of the realization or reciprocation of that love. Like power born out of a black hole. All fantasy.”
On the flip side we have “Skin a Rat”, which furthers the nu-metal sounds we heard her experimenting with in her Daniel Johnston cover back in July. She says it’s “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.”
“The Greatest” is undoubtedly the more approachable of the couplet, and feels like a natural progression from the shoegaze-indebted sounds of SASAMI into a radio-friendly anthem to love. Although the campy video seems to suggest there’s more than a hint of cynicism involved.
However, it’s the hair-raising rocker “Skin a Rat” that intrigues us the most. Jumping entirely away from the warmth of her debut album, it finds SASAMI pulverising on guitar and unloading guttural vocals as she rides a torrent of sound – which happens to include Vagabon on drums.
Check out both tracks below or follow the streaming links for “The Greatest” and “Skin a Rat”.
SASAMI’s new album Squeeze comes out on February 25 through Domino (pre-order/save). You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
