The Messy Middle

The Messy Middle is exactly what the title promises: STAB plants her flag in the uncertain, scrolling, self-doubting territory between who you were and who you’re supposed to become, and she holds that ground for fifteen tracks without blinking. The opener ‘I Think I’m Losing My Place’ sets the terms immediately, a brisk, compulsive rush that tells you this record is going to be honest in ways that feel slightly uncomfortable, and the album largely delivers on that contract through standouts like ‘Here To Be Watched’ (‘I hate how good I am at it’ is a line that sticks to the inside of your skull) and the glitchy, physical urgency of ‘Stay With One Thing.’ Where it costs itself something is at the close: ‘Bring It With Me’ is a perfectly fine midtempo meditation, but as a send-off for an album this charged, it drifts rather than lands, and you feel the deflation. Fourteen strong songs and a closer that doesn’t quite close is still a confident, cohesive record from an artist who knows exactly which wound she’s pressing on.