Album Review – SassyBlack “Ancient Mahogany Gold”
Sassy is back! Of course, she’s been here since dropping two legendary alt-hip-hop albums on Sub Pop with her original duo, THEE Satisfaction, a while back. She has been madly creating deeply intimate and cosmically empowering anthems in hometown Seattle for a while and making the media scene on shows like Broad City and the HBO series VINYL.
But with new full-length Ancient Mahogany Gold, she extends even deeper within her psyche, unveiling the trophies and scars of a life truly devoted to her art. She produces and writes all of her work, having released 11 projects within just the past couple years. It all seems to have been building with a crescendo to the vibrant, vulnerable material crafted for Ancient Mahogany Gold – a masterpiece of mood and tech-soul strength no one else could have delivered.
The music is gorgeous, and though it comes on like a charismatic novel of deep experience and is irresistible all the way through, it’s not hard to spot singles that should be a part of every energizing and edifying playlist shared among the public. These are 11 Afrofuturist-infused songs, from her bedroom to the sweetest chambers of communal joy, including songs like “Antidote”, “Do It” and “Depression” giving testimony, offering wisdom and inspiring her friends (fans and loved ones).
She has the voice of a Sarah Vaughn with the chops of a Herbie Hancock; this is obviously a young woman who has assimilated the glories of a thousand great soul, pop and jazz records to come out in her richly organic storytelling and fully confident delivery. Her earlier solo work has been discovered everywhere from Pitchfork to Essence, and she’s held the main stages of SXSW and Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party, but Ancient Mahogany Gold has the unique feel of something that should place her even greater in the eyes and ears of high quality music fans everywhere.
