Recorded on the other side of the pond from her Canadian upbringing, Sage joined forces with production team MyRiot in London, made up of British duo Roy Kerr and Tim Bran, as well as producer Michael Coleman in LA. As with her earlier releases, the clipped, breathy vocals encourage the listener to lean in - her voice is as captivating as ever. Upon my first listen of The Rot, I somewhat missed the slightly darker side of her songwriting that was so apparent on The Florist. It feels much breezier in comparison, with only glimpses of those coolly rhythmic spoken verses that first drew me into her music. However, as Sage alluded, change is inevitable, and two years on her sound has indeed changed. On a deeper dive into the album, the songs began to come to life, more than winning me over. The opening track Milk is playful but pensive, with lyrics that are both intimate and ambiguous. With Phantom Arm and Back & Bone, Sage enters a slightly more electronic world. Full of quirky synth lines, the songs are charismatic and jaunty with lyrics that are contrastingly full of frustration and exasperation. Over a mechanic, unremitting pulse, Jude offers a slightly darker sound, eerie but still punchy. My personal favourite is Obstruction, which feels like a big sigh between the tight production of the other tracks. While it still shares a clear rhythmic momentum, lazy vocals and ghostly violins swell through this hypnotic song. The Rot, the eponymous and final track, is softer and more heartfelt, tying up the heavier themes of the album.

Sage brings true originality to her album artwork. As the creative director for all her shoots and music videos, we see another facet of Sage’s craft; huge handmade paper maché creatures form the landscape for her worldbuilding. Two enormous, skeletal hands cradle her for the album cover art, and in the music video for Obstruction she lunches with a spooky paper maché dummy. Speaking with her label Nettwerk, Sage explained: ‘I wanted to make body parts that represent the meaning of each song… when combined, they create this larger-than-life beast creature that I ultimately surrender to. The individual body parts are lessons, while the full beast and my surrender is a reaction to those lessons.’ 2024 is lining itself up to be the biggest year of Sage’s career; in May she embarks on a headline tour of the States, Europe and the UK, wrapping up with a night at London’s Lower Third. In an interview with The Luna Collective, Sage laid out her goals for the future. ‘I want to establish who I am as an artist in other people’s eyes, [so that] when they see something [they can say] “That looks like an Abby Sage-esque creature”.’ With her music and visual image alike, I would say she is well on the way to carving out a distinctive identity as an artist.