Love is in the air if the music playing these days is any indication. Artists often sing about relationships and can easily inspire their fans to want to fall in love. Singer/Songwriter Crissi Cochrane is one such artist. Filled with sweet lyrics and a gentle voice, her songs transport listeners to a world where everything is good. OurStage got the change to talk with Crissi about her new album, love and, of course, Valentine's Day.

OS: First off, how's your new album coming along? What can you tell us about it?

CC: All the tracking is finally done, and we're into the last bit of the mixing now. I went down to Chicago last month for a week to make the record at Soma Studios. I had the pleasure of working with a great engineer, Tim Iseler, and local musician/long-time hero of mine Mike Kinsella (who performs solo under the name Owen) lent his talents on drums and guitar as well. The strings were recorded in Toronto at the end of last month - Drew Jurecka, who most notably performs with lovely Canadian songstress Jill Barber (who I also adore), played the parts of violin and viola on the record. I'm so honored to have such amazing people working on this with me! It'll be released sometime this April. I can't wait until it's finally out.

OS: You write a lot about love and coming home. Have you ever been in love?

CC: Certainly! To be honest, I don't know what I'd write about most of the time otherwise. In fact, I may have never even begun writing songs if not for wanting to convince certain boys to return my love.

OS: Do your relationships manifest often in your songs?

CC: They do. In the beginning, all I wrote were love songs. Even today, I have a hard time writing songs that aren't about things I'm experiencing first-hand, but the subject matter is at least beginning to vary: songs about my hometown, about my family, about the city. I do find that love songs are the most amusing to write, they're often a bit silly and overdramatic and - sort of gaudy at times, you know - but they're fun. The challenge comes in writing songs that are discreet enough to not divulge all the juicy details of your love life to the listener (especially when they know you aren't making things up!)

OS: How would you define love?

CC: Love is a most wonderful, sweet, beautiful state. It's perfectly selfless, and often in too short supply.

OS: What do you want people to get the most through your songs?

CC: When I write a song, it's usually just myself I'm writing it for (it's so therapeutic); otherwise, it acts like a sort of letter to the subject of the song. I don't think I've ever written a song while thinking of how to best cater to an audience - I don't really write anything with the assumption that it'll ever be heard. Most times, I have to have a serious debate with myself as to whether or not it'll be a song I want to share with everyone.

OS: One last question... Any plans for Valentine's Day?

CC: Well, my love will be out of the country, so I'll either be out enjoying drinks with friends, or at home writing silly, lamenting love songs!