Whitney Ballen has a secret. A lot of secrets, actually, and not all of them belong to just her. In 2008, the Seattle-based 21-year-old singer-songwriter started carrying around a tape recorder, and now the whispers and stories she documented over the years turn up on her debut full-length, White Feathers, White Linens, an album that ranges from slow-moving piano ballads to bright country-tinged pop.

"I captured clips of strangers in conversation, friends telling me about their romantic rendezvous, secrets that I'd have to promise not to tell," she says. "The majority of the tracks on the album have been inspired by those tape recordings."

Ballen intercuts sounds such as the chiming from a jewelry box, traffic, or anonymous whispers between songs like "In Place of Time," the somber, delicate ballad where she sings about the disappointment that comes when someone isn't right for you, and "Flour," a polished and playful alt-country tune where Ballen admits all her imperfections.

The track "And when I met you, I was like Oh" is just muddled whispering—a boy telling a girl he thinks she's cute and her giggling in response. It's a sweet, private moment offered without a larger context, but it's a reminder that the songs we're listening to come from real people's stories.

Ballen picked up something more than just secrets during the songwriting process. Those who are familiar with her past work (she self-released a demo tape called Gentle Tapes in 2009) will notice an obvious change in her usual bedroom-pop sound thanks to a newfound interest in old country music.

"I started listening to a lot of Bobbie Gentry prior to the preproduction of the album," she says. "Ode to Billie Joe is such a beautiful record. Also, the summer before we started recording, I drove down to Southern California alone, and the only CD I brought with me was one I had never heard, Failer by Kathleen Edwards. By the end of the drive, I knew almost every word."