Singer/songwriter Ben Jelen has signed with producer/songwriter Linda Perry's Custard label, Billboard.com has learned. Jelen's new album, "Pulse," is due June 5 and, as previously reported, was produced by Perry. Phil Ek (Built To Spill, the Shins) will mix some of the tracks.

Jelen told Billboard.com last year he was not happy with his Maverick debut, 2004's "Give It All Away," and that his "only requirement for my next record would be to have only a single producer instead of a collection of them. Linda just had this cool vibe in the studio -- she pushed me to do things that I'd never done before on record."

"Pulse" was further informed by the fact that during its creation, both Perry's father and Jelen's young sister passed away. "You can feel this connection between us, that we're both going through this horrible heartache," Perry told Billboard.com. "And in the middle of all that, it created something magical on tape."

Jelen will perform in March at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and will tour more extensively around the new album's release.

Custard, which scored major success in the United States with James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam," is finalizing a distribution deal with an independent company, according to a source. Previous releases involved album-by-album partnerships with other labels.