I'd like to take Joyce Andersen's voice on a date. Nothing fresh or obscene, maybe just get a meal and listen to it up close for a while, walk it home and say goodnight. Lucky for us, that's more or less what Andersen's new release Love & Thirst offers. Andersen has a voice like light wisps of incense smoke that invite you to breathe deeply, taking in every aspect of a song. It's soft, dusky and supple, curving around a melody and making it her own with the slight bend of a note.

Her fiddle playing, of which there's a little less on the CD compared to previous albums, is in fine form. Whether she's showing off some down-home licks or laying down the base to an old blues number, Andersen shows what more than 10 years of playing second fiddle (pun intended) to other local performers and bands has taught her.

This is Andersen's fourth solo recording, and she takes charge with an understated musical confidence. Backed up by Dave Mattacks on drums and John Troy on bass, with a number of other local musicians making appearances, Andersen struts her stuff in songs ranging from folk and classic blues to bluegrass and Nashville country twang. While Andersen's performance is strong throughout, the songs themselves don't always provide the best opportunity to exhibit her abilities. "Lonely Riders" is a waltz ?á la TNN that would be the perfect end to a pick-up truck prom. The trio of anti-war/pro-peace songs that closes the album cross over into too-often-told tales of needless loss and the power of universal love, backed up by the sort of country schmaltz that makes rhinestone cowboys teary-eyed.

The album's strongest moments are in songs where the band falls into place and it sounds like everyone's having fun, like the bluegrassy "Secrets, Lies," with its tip-toeing bass lines and some playful fiddling from Andersen. "Misled" is an up-tempo, bluesy shuffle that could get any Dave Matthews-loving crowd dancing and bouncing a beach ball. "Brain Cloudy Blues" is a stripped-down number, featuring just Andersen, her fiddle, and some simple bass-and-brush drum work from Mattacks, but Andersen finds the soul of this tune, letting her fiddle whine while she falls deep into the blues, her voice letting out an occasional yelp or moan.

Recently returned from a two-week tour of the West Coast, Andersen is back doing her weekly gig at Inn on the Blues at York Beach on Sunday nights, where the official release for Love & Thirst will be held on June 5 at 8 p.m. It's a one-time opportunity to hear Andersen perform with the band from the album plus some other favorite local performers.