If you’re going to go by one name, it better be something distinctive. Like Sasami. With an opening handle like that, the L.A. indie-pop singer-songwriter and former Cherry Glazerr keyboardist — whose last name is the comparatively bland Ashworth, BTW — clearly doesn’t need to worry about people confusing her with anyone else. Her self-titled debut album also helps in that regard. Understated yet captivating, the exceptional 10-song disc is distinguished by its peculiarly seductive confluence of elements. Pretty melodies share space with noisy synthesizers and squealing guitars; sweetly breezy vocals convey melancholic tales of relationships gone awry; pop-rock sensibilities dance atop experimental soundscapes with a shoegazing fetish and well-poised post-rock artistry; arrangements unspool with an open-ended stream-of-consciousness feel, but the tracks that house them are tightly constructed, self-contained and never veer off the rails into self-indulgence. Basically, it’s every bit as memorable as her name. And interestingly enough, hers might not be the oddest handle in the family; her guitarist brother is apparently named JooJoo. If he ever makes an album, it should be amazing.
STANDOUTS: Not the Time, Free, Jealousy.
