It’s a bold step when a singer-songwriter heads to the live music Mecca of Austin where they have songsmiths like New Orleans has bars, to liberally paraphrase the Mike West song “Mobile.” Such is the case with Lake Charles’ Wendy Colonna, now living in Willie Nelson country. Though these tracks were waxed when she was a Pelican State resident, they serve as a blueprint of how Colonna’s been gaining ground ever since. Her subtle, melting vocals bend and stretch with the album’s melodic modern arrangements, much like a gymnast performing gracefully on a balance beam. As noted here, Colonna is as comfortable with any arty vignette rocker (“Hey”) as she is with the sensuous jazzy splash of “Summer Sweat” and practically everything else in between.

One of the prevailing themes deals with those incapable of love or at least failing miserably at it. On “Lover Boy,” she callously sings, “there’s no use in selling your soul for a piece of my heart.” “Your Latest Host” uses the metaphor of a parasite, in this case one who never returns love, repeatedly latching onto a host that unconditionally does. In lyrics or in melodies, Colonna appears equally versatile as evidenced on the album’s stellar track “Middle Ground” where a jilted lover longs to restore herself to a pre-relationship status. The playing support serves the songs well as a gang of pals help out including multi-instrumentalist Sam Broussard who has a knack for the mystical. As first records go, it’s a solid notch but at times, the vocals could be more in front as they are on “Middle Ground.” Still, the question remains; do Colonna’s characters ever find love? Finally, on the last track, “Girls of Stone,” they do. The protagonist eventually consents to her well-intentioned lover by acquiescing with the well-crafted line – “I’ll make him whole and I show him that my skin is just a blanket for my soul.’ While Girls of Stone might hint at chiseled hardness, Colonna is very much an artist with heart.