The heart and soul of Cat Ridgeway’s new album is tattooed on her right forearm. It’s an image of a check engine light, the dashboard indicator that there’s something wrong, maybe seriously wrong, with your vehicle’s engine. 

On Ridgeway’s arm – and on that album, Sprinter – it’s a tribute to a good friend who lost her battle with mental health and a reminder not to ignore the warning signs in yourself or others. 

That metaphor animates the title track, which kicks off the album with a blizzard of buzzing guitars before settling into a bass-led lope of a tale about a person who seems to have it together, but maybe not quite. It builds to a cathartic, anguished wail: “Were you just too proud? / Was I just too loud?” And then a regretful coda: “I wish you reached out, and I wish I had reached in.”