Shawn Colvin, Whole New You (Columbia)

Shawn Colvin

Whole New You (Columbia)

On 1996's A Few Small Repairs, Shawn Colvin, single, successful, middle-aged mother-of-none wondered, "Would I be saved if I were brave and had a baby?" One toddler later, the answer is both yes and no. "Shake your head in wonder when it's all too good to be true," sings the now-45-year-old, married mom on the title track to Whole New You, Colvin's first batch of brooding originals since settling down in Austin to cultivate a family. With its infectious, carnival keyboard riff, "Whole New You" and the whole of the LP itself is vintage Colvin: simple melodies, can't-miss choruses, and million-dollar production by the singer's longtime collaborator, John Leventhal. They make it look easy. Then again, perhaps procreational bliss isn't the be-all, end-all. (Leventhal also began a family in the interim.) "All of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find," confesses Colvin on opener "A Matter of Minutes" -- "if they were ever mine." Uh-oh. Post-partum blues. On "Nothing Like You," the new parent returns to her South Dakota hometown for the first time in many years, only to encounter the unsettling juxtaposition of childhood and child coming together. Roaming the dreamy, desolate "Bonefields," meanwhile, the singer's world contracts even further: "You are my world, my world." Whereas "Bound to You," with its big, brass hook and banjo/piccolo/sleigh-bell bounce, is irresistible in its buoyant declaration, Whole New You is nevertheless restless, searching. Unsettled. It all happened in "One Small Year," of course, mother apologizing to child in advance on the spare, lovely album closer, "I'll Say I'm Sorry Now," and if it all sounds familiar, it should. Shawn Colvin is back.