"Slugger," the debut LP from Sad13 a.k.a. Sadie Dupuis, prioritizes self-possession in every sense. Sadie, who fronts the dynamite grunge-pop band Speedy Ortiz, forewent her usual modes of collaboration on "Slugger," writing and producing the record herself—"to exorcise my control-freaky demons," she says. After Sadie moved to Philadelphia in early 2016, "Slugger" quickly began to take shape: "I wrote and played and recorded almost all of it in the two weeks I was subletting a friend's tiny bedroom," she says. Fittingly, directness, self-determinism, and intimacy are the bedrocks of "Slugger's" overall tone. Sadie maintains her dignified wit even in less-than-ideal entanglements, as on the album's opening track, "