Due in June from Elektra, Tigerlily will bring the same thoughtful lyrics and distinctive voice that made Merchant a standout with 10,000 Maniacs, the folk-rock band she left in August 1993.

But the sound will differ in its younger band, hand-picked by the singer, and in the independence she enjoyed producing her own work.

"The album is a combination of songs that are sensitive ballads and lyrical content, and some a bit more serious," says Merchant. "That's sort of been my hallmark of song-writing over the years - using music that's very soothing, but the lyrics can be arresting."

Likewise, the words 'tiger' and 'lily' each provoke contrasting images, she says. Together, they remind her of the album's genesis. "I gathered my band together during early last year, and I was cultivating lots of flowers at the time, and we were rehearsing in the country. It was really evocative of the time."

Merchant, 31, won't identify the Hudson Valley town in which she lives, and volunteers in arts and crafts at a library after-school program for children. "I'm just used to living in a small town where I'm very well known. There's protectiveness to that. You become part of the community."

Originally from Jamestown, in western New York, Merchant has lived in London, New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. "I prefer the country," she says now.

She plans to tour Europe for Tigerlily this summer, the United States this fall.

In Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York - "all over" - she handpicked the four-piece ensemble, which may grow to six for touring. "The band is much younger than 10,000 Maniacs," she says. "There's a certain vitality to them, and an eagerness. The bass player was working in a factory when I offered him the job. There's a gratefulness to be able to play music for a living. It's his first love."

With all the musicians, says Merchant "there's an excitement to the way they play." A woman on electric guitar, for example, previously accompanied herself on acoustic guitar, schooling her well to play around Merchant's singing. "These are subtle things, but they give a lot more energy to the happier songs," says Merchant.

Wonder, the first single, is an extremely celebratory song, full of strengths and really beautiful. "It's interesting how well the whole structure of this industry works when it's working well, and how it can destroy an artist when it's not working well. This is the first time I've chosen a single for a record and the record company agreed with me."

"I decided to make this album without a producer. Another record company would have thought I was out of my mind. But it just sounds like a band playing, and an artist performing her songs.

"If you're working through a producer, you're trying to channel your ideas through another person. This way, all I have to do is conquer my communication with the engineer."

Unwilling to say if she's romantically involved with anyone, Merchant says she enjoyed some time off for renewal after leaving 10,000 Maniacs. She traveled alone to Italy, Spain and Venice. "It gave me a chance to be somewhere different and immerse myself in a beautiful environment. You learn a lot about yourself when you travel alone."

And, she says, her recent travels down the Hudson River were nowhere near as eventful as the reported by the New York City tabloids. Those stories had her fall off a yacht and drift 24 miles. Actually, she was canoeing with her guitar player and drummer. "For anyone that read that, we just capsized and washed up on shore less than a mile later. It was not a huge catastrophe."

Now, with her album, she pursues music that hasn't been corrupted, as Merchant has sometimes seen, by those stoking the starmaker machinery for money. "There's something more intangible to it than that," she says. "My music makes people cry, and I think you can't fake that. There's something universal in the lyrics and the music, that intangible thing that touches people. Symphony music can make me cry. You don't need lyrics. It's a magical art form."

In fact, Merchant would rather be at the piano, alone at home with her dog, than at a notebook. "The lyric writing is satisfying when it's finished, but it's the more difficult part of the process. When you're doing creative writing, it's from absolutely nothing. It would be much easier to write an essay on a particular topic. It's difficult to hear a piece of music and translate that to a range of emotions that people can hear."

As she jostles with the words, she worries. Too pretentious? Too sentimental? Yet, she says, through 12 years and six albums with 10,000 Maniacs, and now in her own work, "the thoughtfulness of the lyrics are the most powerful part of what I write."