Warm People

Stephanie Morgan is the founder of the annual POPAsheville festival, which celebrates Western North Carolina's emergence as an alt-rock haven, and her band (pronounced "Stephanie's Id," as in ego and superego) is the ballast of that community. The group's second album shows why stephaniesid is ready to go national, or even international. The sound is anchored by the synths and keyboards of Morgan and her husband, co-songwriter Chuck Lichtenberger, and driven by Morgan's one-of-a-kind voice. The band's best songs, such as "Hello From the South," "Drinking at a Party," "Bullet Train" and "Mission From God," sound like effortlessly poetic letters from an alert, compassionate friend. Morgan has access to deep feelings and possesses the gift of being able to express them with mood-appropriate music. Her voice changes with the mood: from girlish to womanly, delicate to bold, as the songs move from intimate to anthemic. With acute insights, shimmering synth hooks and smoothly shifting melodic textures, "Warm People" is difficult to classify but easy to love. —Wayne Robins