Kelley Ryan

"I didn't do this record the rock'n'roll boy way…it's my own sound," says Kelley Ryan.

Note the emphasis there—on the word "boy." Kelley Ryan, the front-woman for the California band astroPuppees and a go-to songwriter and collaborator (most recently on Marshall Crenshaw's Jaggedland), took a decidedly different approach to recording her first record under her own name. Twist is an album told from the female perspective; a theme encompassing everything from the lyrics to the instruments to the album's many moods.

"I had this idea: the record was only going to be about girls, be it the daughter I never had, a heroine of my mine, my grandmother or a woman who lived near me in Ireland," says Kelley. "It's all from the feminine perspective. Even in the music – there's no electric guitars, it's just acoustic and loops and strings. I mean, I love three-minute electric-guitar pop songs, but I wanted to create something more comfortable for me and stay in that mood."

But don't get the wrong idea – Twist isn't a polarizing record, a long lost Lilith Fair soundtrack or an angry feminine response a la Exile in Guyville. It's a gutsy record with ambitious production, smart collaborations (with the likes of producer Don Dixon (R.E.M., Smithereens), legendary arranger Van Dyke Parks and singer/songwriter Marti Jones), and a personal touch and warmth that crosses all musical boundaries. If anything, the album is reminiscent of something like Beck's Sea Change…which, not so coincidentally, is represented here by a cover of "Lost Cause" (more on that in a minute).