Using the name SASAMI, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Sasami Ashworth crafts music that fearlessly jumps genres, bringing out the best in each one while giving them a very personal stamp. Whether delving deep into the sonic textures of shoegaze and dream pop as on her 2018 self-titled debut album, or exploring the violent nature of nu-metal on 2022's Squeeze, she fully embraces the confessional nature of contemporary singer/songwriters as well. By the time of 2025's Blood on the Silver Screen, she had evolved into an artist assured enough to take on mainstream pop and wrestle it into submission. Growing up in Los Angeles, Ashworth played piano and French horn, becoming good enough at the latter that she ended up studying at the Eastman School of Music. When she graduated in 2012, she started a dual life as an elementary school music teacher by day and an in-demand musician by night. She played French horn in orchestras and sessions and joined the band Dirt Dress in 2013. She left that group in 2015 and joined Cherry Glazerr, playing synthesizers on-stage and on their 2017 album, Apocalipstick. She also found work outside the group, doing string arrangements for Curtis Harding's album Face Your Fear and providing backing vocals on Wild Nothing's Indigo. While on tour with the band in 2017, she began working on her own songs for the first time, recording demos on her computer during downtime. The experience led her to quit the band in favor of a solo career. With the help of her brother Joo Joo, guitarist for the shoegaze band Froth, and Tomas Dolas of Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel, she started recording the almost-stream-of-consciousness post-breakup songs she had written. She released the first SASAMI single, "Callous," in April 2018 before heading out on tour with King Tuff. Along the way, she was signed by Domino Records, and a second SASAMI single -- the shoegaze-inspired "Not the Time" -- was issued in October. The songs were recorded with Froth drummer Cameron Allen filling the drum seat; he and Joo Joo were SASAMI's core band for her debut album. Other guests at the sessions included Soko, for whom Ashworth had produced a session, Hand Habits' Meg Duffy, Devendra Banhart, and Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils. The resulting self-titled album was a mix of dream pop and shoegaze with an introspective singer/songwriter approach. It was released by Domino in March 2019. The following year, SASAMI focused on writing new material and after a couple of standalone tracks -- including 2020's Sheryl Crow-meets-shoegaze "Mess" and a whispered acoustic cover of System of a Down's "Toxicity" -- she issued a heavy metal cover of Daniel Johnston's "Sorry Entertainer" in 2021. These singles signaled a new direction for SASAMI, one she explores in detail on 2022's Squeeze. A mix of downtuned metal, jangling folk á la Crow, and dream pop, the album features a core band including King Tuff's Kyle Thomas and Duffy -- both of whom used Ashworth's production skills while they shared a house in Los Angeles. It also sports appearances from a wide range of guests like Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren, Mitski, actress Patti Harrison, and Vagabon’s Lætitia Tamko. After spending part of 2023 touring as a headliner and moonlighting as a guitarist in yeule's band, in May of 2024, she released a single, "Honeycrash" that leaned heavily into doomy metal with contemporary pop influences. On the album that followed in early 2025, Ashworth tipped the scales completely over to the pop side of the equation. Working with co-producers Jenn Decilveo and Rostam, she crafted an album that used and subverted pop tropes, while examining subjects like sex, power, and embodiment. Blood on the Silver Screen is due out in March by Domino. - Biography by Tim Sendra