... In fact, things couldn't be better for Kay Hanley. For the past two years, she has been without a label and living what she calls "this incredible, idyllic life" noting that it is, in fact, "almost disgusting."

Has this new motherhood resigned Hanley to a life of suburban boredom, Gymboree and Barney? Hell no - she's too busy watching her daughter's personality emerge - dark side and all. "We love it," she says, with a devilish smile that Zoe has already earned and adopted. Fittingly, Hanley also enthusiastically embraces her own darker side. By churning out music for film and television, Hanley gets to indulge it all the time, role-playing and exploring her own personality quirks. This has led to her writing some of the most contemplative and sonically adventurous music of her career.

But her past career had plenty of adventure as well. She sang with Letters to Cleo, a beloved Boston band with a devoted following for 11 years. If a recent show at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge is any indication, her fans remain as devout as ever. They warmly receive her new songs, but also beg forcefully to hear some familiar favorites in an encore set. All Hanley demands in response are a Bud and a butt. She receives and consumes both, and the audience gets 5 LTC songs performed by her and Michael.

While together, LTC put out three major label releases: Aurora Gory Alice, Wholesale Meats & Fish, and Go, and one indie project - Sister. At the height of their popularity, they scored a Top 10 hit with "Here & Now." During their tenure, they also provided songs for a variety of compilations and soundtracks including The Craft and Jawbreaker.

But the real excitement started when LTC split with their label, Revolution, in 1998. Since, Hanley hasn't looked back. In fact, she's hard-pressed to find one single thing she misses about being on a label. For now, she's comfortable walking the DIY path, and taking on only projects that interest her in some real way.

"I get to do what I want when I want," Hanley says. "It's been so much easier to be a free agent. People are stoked when they realize they can work with me without dealing with a record label."

As such, Hanley and LTC have experienced unprecedented success shilling for themselves. It started when the label-less LTC landed a playing role in the popular teen film Ten Things I Hate About You. Hanley graced the silver screen long enough to make a lasting impression, turning up to sing "Cruel to Be Kind" to end a fight, and closing out the film by delivering a blazing rendition of Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" from atop a building.

Next Hanley and Eisenstein landed a gig writing music for Generation O - an animated WB show about the planet's hottest rock group. Hanley also provided the voice of Molly - the show's eight-year-old rock star, and LTC performed the songs for the fictitious band.

Then the band went on hiatus when Hanley and Eisenstein decided to start a family. "The process of being pregnant and having Zoe bought me time with myself to sort things out," Hanley says. She decided she wanted no part of touring, and decided to make the LTC "break" permanent. So on May 4, 2000, Letters to Cleo played its last show together with Buffalo Tom at Axis to raise money for well-known scenester, Mikey Dee (who became paralyzed that February after suffering a brain stem stroke).

Hanley birthed what she calls her greatest accomplishment, Zoe Mabel, on June 30, 1999. She wrote most of the songs on her new CD with the little inspiration growing inside of her, and as such they came out sounding, a bit, ah, hormonal.

"I wasn't unhappy," Hanley says. "But the songs came out sounding introspective and sad." Hanley remembers trying the songs out at a LTC practice, and having them fall flat. "My bandmates were like, dude, why don't you cheer up," Hanley says. But she already knew it was a stretch going in. She was ready to do her own thing.

And she has. Now she's putting the finishing touches on Cherry Marmalade at her own pace, with no real or imagined pressure to produce commercially. But she still has to please her harshest critic - herself. "I'm a pop songwriter," she says. "I'm not trying to be the Velvet Underground or anything, but I am trying to impress myself and create my own space."

As for the sad songs, well, Hanley diverted them to her solo project, where they fit right in with her widening range. "In the past, I think I was afraid of exploring my dark side in any real way in my writing," she says. "I was kinda scared of what I might find." But eventually, when she realized her dark side wouldn't overtake her completely, the honest words came. The result is a CD full of her most compelling lyrics ever.

Hanley is also more musically aggressive than ever on this effort, jumping effortlessly from style to style. She runs from countrified pop (Happy To Be Here) to Cheap Trick-worship (Mean Streak), to 6+-minute-epic ballad (Galapagos). There's plenty to keep Cleo fans interested as well, as other songs such as "Faded Dress," "Made in the Shade," and "This Dreadful Life" recall LTC in a big way.

She recently took part in one of the most fun and successful project of her career - providing all the vocals for the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack, which has already gone gold. She's winning all manner of new admirers in the process. Howard Stern, for one, has declared repeatedly on air that he is "so gay" for several Josie numbers. As such, he invited her, along with Michael, to be guests on his May 17, 2001 radio show. The duo performed a Josie song, "Three Small Words," and their now infamous Cheap Trick cover. The pair also chatted with Stern at length, and, yes, Stern does want to sleep with Kay, whom he calls hot in a "NYU bohemian chick" kinda way.

In keeping with bohemian appearances, the release of Cherry Marmalade will be as low-key and DIY as the writing and recording of it. But the sound will be as big as ever. On Cherry Marmalade, Hanley enlists the support of guitarist USA Mike Eisenstein (formerly of LTC), keyboardist Peter Adams (who plays with Tracy Bonham and Juliana Hatfield), bassist Ed Valauskas (who plays with The Gentlemen and The Gravel Pit), and drummer Pauly Buckley (who plays with Orbit).

Hanley's putting Cherry Marmalade out though her own web site, with a little semi-formal distribution help from her friends at Co-op Pop and Newbury Comics. She also has an email list of devoted fans she'll make aware of the release. She's confident, but she's got her fingers crossed. "This may be my only chance to make this type of record," she admits.