"It's somewhat of a foreign concept for me to care so much about a record," Mandy Moore says. "I really haven't had the personal involvement on anything in the past, not like I do with this one."

Moore is proudly referring to her new album, Wild Hope, which she co-wrote with Lori McKenna, the Weepies, Rachael Yamagata and a slew of other critically acclaimed singer-songwriters. Recorded at Allaire Studios and produced by John Alagia, the man behind the boards on John Mayer’s 2001 debut "Room for Squares', Wild Hope is slated for a Spring ’07 release via The Firm Music.

In one sense, Moore's album is a collection of songs -- completed and compiled over a lengthy period of time, a project on which a pop artist lavishes overwhelming amounts of her energy, conviction, attention, and heart -- such as appears regularly in the ever-ongoing pop-music marketplace.

But for the New Hampshire-born, Orlando-raised 22-year-old, this particular release and how it was accomplished represents something decidedly new. When she discusses it, pride, relief and wonder streak her talk.