“I had to get creative.”

According to Shannon Stephens, her new single was born not out of artistic caprice, but of personal necessity. After upheavals in her personal life, she responded by immersing herself deeper in the stability and productivity of her musical work.

She started by recording “World in My Eyes,” a cover that remakes the icy Depeche Mode classic as a defiantly soulful and sultry rock number. The new single, now being released to Seattle-area press and radio, was recorded for what’s planned as a four-song EP, featuring one more cover and two new versions of songs from her 2000 debut.

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“I didn’t feel ready to record an album” so soon after 2012’s Pull It Together, Stephens explains, but instead told herself, “I’m going through some major life changes, and I need to keep busy—what’s something that we could do as a group that we could have fun with?”

She’s quick to credit her “dudes,” the five-piece band she’s toured with for the last half-decade, with many of the choices that are going into the creation of the EP. From the decision to cover Depeche Mode—although “World in My Eyes,” specifically, was Stephens’ pick—to the technical aspects of recording, Stephens and this small circle of collaborators were responsible for every ingredient of her new project, which is being recorded without any additional musicians and engineered by bassist Terry Mattson.

“I have the final say” in the recording process, “but we’re all kind of throwing our opinions in there,” says Stephens. “There were a lot of strong opinions,” she adds wryly, “when we were mixing ‘World in My Eyes.'”

Along with Dearborn and Daniel Blue of Motopony, Stephens and her band will be promoting the new single with a release show on August 2 at 7pm, at Seattle’s new Ballard Sanctuary.