Season 2 Episode 4: SASAMI's Blood On the Silver Screen (2025)

It's officially spring, and you know what that means, right? Can you tell me when you find out? I'm just kidding. In this episode, Noey finally just covers this dang album already - listen for the good, the BAD, and the UGLY about SASAMI's new album Blood On the Silver Screen!

The Moods by Noey theme tune, "Intro to Moods" was graciously created for the podcast by Links Deity. 

Transcript

 Hello, my little Nick Toons, MLB. This is Moods with Noey, and this is a podcast journal for me to talk about what I think is magic and mystifying and memeable about the music I listen to. So let's get started. So this episode is devoted to the SaSasami album, blood on the Silver Screen, and this album came out on March 7th, 2025.

So a little over a month ago. And I will say between the singles and this album, I really took my time with this. I'm sure you've noticed there's a gap between this and last episode and. It will happen again, I promise you. Uh, I've had my time with this album and I have a lot of thoughts. Part of the reason I think it took me so long to release this and decide how to talk about it is I have some mixed feelings, so we're gonna get into that.

Most of the other people I mentioned. Did not work on every single track, but of course, SaSasami Ashworth absolutely did.

So, like I said, this album just came out March 7th, 2025. But the singles, of course, have been trickling in for some time now, and I've felt many ways about all of them. So with Squeeze, that was her foray into metal and hard rock and industrial. But blood on the silver screen was a way for Sasami to really dig into the formula of pop music, in my opinion, primarily the sound of mainstream pop music, because I like a lot of pop artists, including Sasami.

Um, but Sasami, who is a classically trained musician who, who plays the French horn by the way, really took the time to study pop music. And this album is a result of that. I understand from Sasami's intentions here that this is an album devoted to modern lovers and love, sex, power, and embodiment. And for some people that may be the case.

Ooh, and I'm finally ready to dig into, let's start with the first track. There are 13 tracks. The first track is Slugger, and because this is the first track, I've heard this one a lot. Now the good news is I really hate this song less than I used to. The Na na nas really feel like a playground chant and kind of drive me bonkers.

In this song, we have multiple references to Sun Signs. The first line, of course being I'm Such a Cancer, I wish I had the answer. We have references to other music pieces. We have references to the song, and also. Most likely the movie nine to five, and Dolly Frederick Chopin Gemini writes by Steve Lacey, which is a very recent reference.

That's always strange to me when we're referencing something so recent to me. It's like, have we really had time to look back at this? And while the references are intentional, I don't feel they instill their own charm by being references. I think you have to do that when you write your song, and so the references don't really do anything for me 'cause the song kind of drives me completely nuts.

The lover or the partner in this song is older than Sasami and is calling her Slugger. Now, why would you call a woman in her thirties slugger? That is my question. And she has an emotional reaction to it according to the song. See, and that's a mistake I'm making. I'm listening to this and I'm like, yeah, all of the characters are Sasami.

I cannot think that that's not going to work, but it's hard for me to not think that also, this is another Sasami is around my age when I'm looking at it from my perspective. Of course, I've been married for 10 years. And I think nothing sounds worse than running around the city dating. I think nothing sounds worse than dating.

So if these songs are in fact autobiographical, I really give it up to her because holy shit, dating is hell. So yeah. Why would anyone call a woman in her thirties slugger? That's annoying. So the video is on a baseball field. At night, we have Sasami. She's playing both teams. She's the red team, she's the blue team, and at one point she's holding her head in her hands.

Sports themes are always going to be less than ideal. For me personally, I have no nostalgia or feelings wrapped up in sports, but I get it. Okay. Baseball's an American pastime. I respect it. But overall we have Sasami making an effort and probably accomplishing the goal of looking hot on a baseball field.

There's some kind of choreography going on. She's also the crowd. What else is there to say about Slugger, which is the very first song on the album? It certainly sets the energy for the album. I think it sets the tone. What else can I say? But I'm giving it a mystifying and I'm already over the baseball theme, so the next track is just be friends.

Sasami's voice is really beautiful on this song, but it is trite and it is predictable to me. Gee, this is gonna take us back to Minsky's last album, but it's a little country vibe and mainstream pop country vibe. And it being trite and predictable. That's a running theme throughout the album as a dislike for me and for this track and for many others.

I think this could make a really successful mainstream pop song. We could hear this on the radio. I can see people singing along to this in stadiums, and I hope it's a success for her. I do, and I mean. I'm singing along to it because I've listened to it so many times for this episode. Um, there's a part with, with like a vocoder voice or something that makes me literally feel like the song is playing a, a joke on me.

Like a joke is being played on me with this one. Um, the first time I heard it, it just made me mad. I just think this song has a lot of cheesiness and yeah, I did wake up with it in my head. Okay, I did. So I'm gonna say this one is a mystifying times 10. I'm simply not the audience for it. I've been following Sasami for years.

We're similar age, but I'm simply not the audience for it. I kind of want to get people into Sasami through this album, and I'm excited to see what she does next. Because whatever she sets her mind to, she does from my perspective. But yeah, I kind of wanna throw this album out to someone who likes a lot of what's on the radio and say, give this a listen.

I, I don't know. So the next track is I'll be gone. I think this one is pretty solid, to be honest. Simple lyrics again about lust and driving at night. Of course, we're talking about that modern city lover aesthetic here. But it is fun to sing along to, and I think even more fun to drive to. There are some points where I kind of wake up from the track and think, wow, this is very simple.

It seems simple, of course, to me, the listener, and then I go back to liking it again. This one I think is edgier. We've got some edgier pop music here, which I enjoy, and the bridge does drive me a little nuts. I don't think I'd be too embarrassed singing along to it in the car with my windows down. Hey, maybe I'm just taking myself too seriously.

Gosh. I think there are some albums where if you listen to them enough, you start to, you start to doubt things about yourself. You're not just looking at the album, you're looking at your place in the world and your perceptions of all other art, and you're looking at your biases and. Anyway. I'll give, I'll be gone a memeable.

So next we have love makes you do crazy things. I, I talked about, um, dress, be friends, making me feel at times like a joke is being played on me. But when it comes to love makes you do crazy things. I. I'm not sure if dance Dance revolutions are still in service. I'm pretty sure they are. They were massively popular.

But this song is like perfect for dance, dance revolution. That's kind of all I can think about or just dance. But I think I'm a little more familiar with DDR. The drum machine on this track just completely, pardon my French, fucks me up in the worst way. And here we have another baseball analogy 'cause I would hope the first track being slugger. It's a single, a video was dedicated to the baseball theme. It better be continued elsewhere. Right? So we get took a big swing and I struck out, um, for the most part though, the song feels like a prison that I'm really trying to crack out of, and I don't have that much more to say about it. Um, it's an unfortunate use of an electric guitar.

I wanna be done with it. Um. Love, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Memeable slash mystifying, because what and why? You know, I told myself for weeks that I was gonna be nicer. I'm a Sasami fan overall. Okay. The next track is one that I think is one of SAS's best songs ever. Do you see this? Do you see this as an album that.

Is clearly driving me nuts. And then there's a song, there's a single featuring Clairo that I consider one of Sasami's best songs. Yeah. In Love With a Memory is incredible. We're really hearing her music training and her skill here. We're hearing the electric guitar as harpsichord, uh, around a minute 22 when the acoustic comes in.

Ugh. Killer. It's sad, it's brooding. And it's really speaking that heart wrenching truth. You know, balancing your sense of freedom and individuality with the search for meaningful relationships and putting down roots. I love the line. All good things must come to an end. Don't cry, just come back to bed.

Ugh, that is so sad. You know, I can really imagine that sparking its own individual emotion for any listener with an ounce of empathy. I think both Sasami and Clairo should consider this just a work of genius. It's like a pop rock take on classical, uh, maybe baroque, but oh my gosh, I give this a magic. So next up we have Possessed.

Possessed to me starts out straight up Labyrinth Chilly down. Which I skip every time, but I don't mind this so much. Um, I think this is like more driving and juvenile relationship drama, but it's not, not catchy. It's another strong dance track, honestly. Um, I can see maybe a sheltered young person thinking that this is the hardest song they've ever heard.

Not even a sheltered young person, like a suburban young person thinking this is the hardest song they've ever heard. I think it's pretty all right. I will say though, it's three minutes and 49 seconds and it still feels a little too long, but I still give it a magic within reason. The next song, figure It Out to me feels like an older Sasami track.

This feels like a track from Presque. We're getting more drama, more sex, and a love interest. That just sounds like a real shithead. Like in a lot of other tracks. But I like the fuzziness on this one and I think it's less predictable. And I don't think it's as memorable because I do forget about this one.

It just doesn't stand out as much to me, but it does have the power to grow on me more. So I'm going to give this one a soft magic. So the next song is for the weekend, we have more easy rhymes. We have another unstable situationship. You can throw this on the radio right now. And I will say, it sounds like it would've been on the radio when I was in high school or middle school.

This isn't a fishing trip. I'm not trying to catch feelings. That makes me wanna growl. Yeah, so I think this song would be perfect for, um, like a teen show where the nerdy girl walks down a staircase at a party after a makeover. And really all they did was take her glasses off and straighten her hair. So this one's a mystifying for me.

Okay. The next song is Honey Crash. I really did not like this song when it, when it first came out as a single. And I will say after some months I still don't like it, but I do sing it all the time and I do sing along. And I will tell you, whenever I sing Honey Crash into me. Tim laughs. He thinks that line is very funny at this point.

Now I'm saying I think I like it. I like it better than any of the tracks I've given mystifying so far, and I think it's really well produced and it's epic sounding. It just doesn't stand out enough to me personally. The video is really intense for this one. Sasami's really doing a lot in all of this structured denim.

She's rolling on the ground. There's thunder and lightning forces of nature and fire. For some reason, she throws a guitar, which always pisses me off. I mean, the video matches the vibes of the song. It's like a fiery and intense anthem. It's still got that sort of predictability to me that. Just doesn't do it.

So I actually give this one memeable and magic and I think that makes perfect sense. Okay, so the next track doesn't get a category because it really leads into nothing but a sad face on. So Smoke banished from Eden is an instrumental. We get to hear Ami play her French horn. It sets the mood for the next track.

We also hear these really beautiful soft ghosts like vocals. If there is more of this to come on, future Sasami albums. I'm really excited, by the way. Okay, so smoke leads into nothing but a sad face on and this song, we've got a lot of innuendos. We've got yet again, a toxic yet Thrillingly physical partnership here, and I like this song.

It's stronger than most of the other tracks. Again, the love interest sucks. Um, I can definitely see the, you know, mouth of honey worth the sting striking her as a catchy sort of turn of phrase. And I hear that French horn sadly weeping. And the background of this track, the mood of this song feels smoky.

I love the vibe. I think this track is really strong. I think it's up there. So far with In Love With a Memory, and then my other favorite song, which is the last song, but we're not there yet. But I like this track and I'm giving it a magic because I think it is magic. The next song is Lose It All. To Me.

This is like an after the rain positivity track, you know? Storms passed. The sun is coming out again. This is really catchy and really fun. It feels very like early nineties to me. It really makes me think of Kate Bush's eat the music. And again, the lyrics are fairly simple here. They don't spark anything to me all that much.

Um, I think because of the sheer repetition of lyrics, the song suffers from t Rex syndrome. In that respect, but I like the paired down part with just the vocals and piano before it builds back up again. This is such an ending credit song. That should really be one of my awards, honestly. But I'm giving Lose It All A Magic because this is a cool track.

I wasn't expecting it. I mean, I think at this point we, we've seen that Sasami can do it all, but I love this one. So, yeah. Magic. Okay. Last song on the album is The Seed. This is my favorite track. Aside from In Love with a Memory, you know, we get some more vocab words here. We needed some too. We needed some more $10 words, but this song is so damn good.

I pray every night to the indie gods. Let the next album expand on this song. It's spooky. It gets heavy. It's haunting. It reminds me of my beloved squeeze, and I love when Sasami does grunge. Um, I understand that s was doing harm to her vocal chords, I think, or her voice overall singing the way she did on Squeeze.

So she wanted to go back to more natural vocals for her. I totally get that. She just sounds like an angry goddess on this one. I think the piano feels thoughtful near the end. Before that vocal, her prize, I just get absolute joy from this one. I, I mean, I love a spooky song. The lyrics are kind of mystical, so yeah, I'm giving this a magic.

Absolutely. I'm giving it a magic. So how do I feel overall? I mean, what can I say that I haven't already said? 'cause I can't help myself. But overall, this is an album that Sasami me, had a goal and set out to do what she wanted to do and she did it. She wanted to study pop music and she delivered it. It's just not for me, I don't think for a lot of the songs I'm the audience.

That's okay. What's wild to me is that, you know, two of my favorite Sasami songs are on this album. I have a feeling though, it'll be like that thing where you're following an artist for years and there's just a blip. There's just a period of time where you couldn't follow along, but you can in the future.

Personally, I would've preferred less predictable, mainstream pop, and a little more thought. Because pop as a genre does not mean it needs to really be completely simple. And so I hope we get more from that, from Sasami. Um, I'm just more the audience for that. And some of these songs make me feel like I'm just way too old to be listening.

Be is that internal work for me? Maybe, um, let's pass out some awards song most likely to get stuck in your head. Up until lately it was a tie between slugger and honey Crash Slugger is like a deadly and venomous slugger is like a deadly, um, parasitic earworm. And honey crash is dramatic. And we'll just get in your head anytime you hear the word honey or crash.

So what I'm saying is my brain has rotted. Um, I didn't really give one award to one song there. Let's just say Slugger and Honey Crash. So the next award is the award for song that I would sing along to, but only after I rolled my windows down in my car, which is love makes you do crazy things. Editing Noe, I meant windows up.

I'll probably end up unironically loving this one. You know, after kind of mocking it. It feels like a picture slideshow on YouTube in 2009. But congratulations on your award. How am I feeling? Well, I'm recording this on Easter Sunday. I'm not Christian, but I do celebrate Spring and I love seeing my family and so we're, we're gonna hang out.

We're gonna eat some good food. It is a beautiful day today. It's like 55 degrees and sunny. What else could you ask for in April? So, mood, the Sunday scaries haven't hit just yet. I feel strong today. I feel mentally kind of strong. And I'm ready for the week. Speaking of appreciative, if you've made it to this part of the podcast, I thank you.

I'm so grateful for you. And if you can please follow moods with Noy on Instagram, please comment or send me a message. I'd be happy to hear from you. Tell me what you're listening to. Tell me how you're feeling. I want to know and please share this with someone who you think might like it. Share it with someone you don't like who you think will hate it as punishment for something that they did to you.

So this is moves with Noe. I'm Noe. Thank you so much and we'll talk soon.