The title track to Cat Ridgeway’s new album Sprinter expertly uses low and quiet dynamics to reflect how many things in your life can come at you in overwhelming blasts. If you’re mentally healthy you can weather that experience with some degree of success. But if you’re not doing so well you can ignore all the warning signs piling up under the belief you can outrun the momentum of accumulating stressors that aren’t going to go away if you don’t attend to them. The song is about a friend Ridgeway lost to despair and the line about “Still got that damn check engine light” as a metaphor for red flags in your mental health is memorable and poignant. The distorted guitar in that 90s alternative rock vein adds a dramatic flair to the song but Ridgeway’s songwriting isn’t a throwback and when the song hits the tender and tranquil outro the note struck is one of a deep sadness and sense of loss. For all the song’s early exuberance reflecting the sort of best face forward pantomime of confidence makes the ending all the more impactful. Ridgeway’s words of reaching self-awareness after the terrible fact and experiencing a gutting guilt too late to do anything other than compound the hurting linger with you long after the song is over. Watch the video for “Sprinter” on YouTube and follow Cat Ridgeway at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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