Debut albums often go one of two ways.

They can be a career apogee as the artist uses up her best material saved over years of writing. Or they can be the harbinger of a musician to watch as she finds her sound and grows on subsequent releases.

Kristen Englenz’s ingénue is likely the latter – a solid debut full of songs that continue playing in your head long after the stereo is off.

The full-length LP is produced by former Wilcodrummer Ken Coomer and follows her 2016 EP Extent of Play. Itfinds Englenz channeling Tigerlily-era Natalie Merchant on “Got Me with Goodbye;” two sides of Alanis Morissette on the angry “Rebound” and the tender “Good Enough;” Tori Amos on “Striking the Same Chord (At the Right Time);” and Fiona Apple on “Globe in My Room.”

While much of ingénue reveals Englenz’s influences, the haunting, existential “Pray for Rain,” featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama, hints at what might be her stylistic core. While the Blind Boys’ presence is delightful, it’s the songwriting, not just the guests, that make this moody meditation not only the LP’s brightest light, but among the best tracks to emerge in 2020 thus far.

“Do the waves miss the sea when they reach the shore?/does the tide feel a little low when the moon’s compelled to go?/are the rivers and the creeks a little purer than me?/or have they already cried out salt to the sea?,” Englenz sings before the gospel group joins on the chorus.

Englenz is a woman of many voices, employing a breathy whisper on “Georgia Peach” and snarling on “Rebound.” And ingénue’s nine tracks are the sound of that woman searching for what will ultimately be her signature.