POP ALBUMS

** 1/2 Amy Rigby, “Middlescence,” KOCH Records. The jangling guitars, Beatles-esque pop and blunt humor buoying Amy Rigby’s quavery-but-tough warble--not to mention such tunes as “All I Want,” about the silent frustration of a marriage growing colder--make “Middlescence” seem a lot like the singer-songwriter’s acclaimed debut, “Diary of a Mod Housewife.”

If “Middlescence” has less immediate impact than those tales of a thirtysomething former hipster confronting the all-too-real world of divorce and single motherhood, Rigby’s not exactly spinning her wheels here. She’s just working out the tangled details of daily existence, wavering on the brink of change in the country-rocker “Dirty Bridge,” and cutting a wry slice of single-mom dating life in the bluesy “What I Need.”

Her flair for limning complex emotional impulses is well in place, but her instincts aren’t always laudable. The “20th Anniversary” reflection on a high school crush is maudlin, while the “you-remind-me-of-him” sentiment in “For New Times’ Sake” should have anyone who’s experienced a rebound relationship screaming, “Don’t go there!” Still, her honesty in the face of ordinary life is hard to resist. As painful as it is to buy bargain-basement clothing and realize you’re “no hot chick” anymore, Rigby’s resilience makes you hope she’ll keep sharing through the whole messy ride.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).