It was late spring 2005 and Liv Mueller, former front lady for The Lovelies, was in New Orleans, La., saturated in musical inspiration.

The Lovelies had disbanded the winter previous, leaving Mueller time to write material for what would soon become the debut album from her latest musical endeavor, The Dark Horse Project.

Compiling her new songs on a used 8-track cassette tape, she sent her demo to musical colleague and friend, Pleasure Club's Grant Curry, who heads up the production team "Verdugo City Madmen."

It wasn't long before Mueller and Grant headed south to record The Dark Horse Project's full-length disc in a beautiful cedar cabin recording studio.

"Our recording sessions were inspired by Lake Ponchatoula, deep in the heart of Louisiana," she says. "Ponchatoula was beautiful and life changing. Often, mornings were spent canoeing or strumming the guitar before recording began. I loved it."

Three weeks later, they emerged with an album's worth of what Mueller's calling "love songs for the forlorn and misguided." A track called "Haunted Face" is warm and sultry, with Mueller's dark vocals visiting dream imagery in a Mazzy Star meets the Velvet Underground kind of way. Rocker "Dark Horse" adds more of a punch, yet feels just as naturally moody.

"At the end of it all, we felt like we had accomplished something wonderful and haunting (amid) the still nights, where the only sound for miles were the crickets and our reverberating guitars. One night I felt three kisses on my nose but nobody was there. How's that for ambience? I can honestly walk away from this feeling a sense of pride that I have never felt regarding anything else I've ever recorded."

Although Mueller says she started it as a solo effort, The Dark Horse Project has now grown to encompass drummer Kristy Mcinnis and bassist Josh Rickun, who she is calling Milwaukee's best kept secret.

What other Milwaukee talent is Ms. Mueller into these days?

"A man that is nothing but pure entertainment. He goes by the name of Rockin' Roy and somebody should make a documentary about this man. Not an ounce of evil in his body, just gold. He does karaoke every night of the week all around town. You can catch him Monday nights at The Corner and Saturdays at Gary J's 16th Street Pub."

The Dark Horse Project plays a show at Onopa Brewing Co. on Friday, Jan. 20. The self-titled CD will be available at the show, and also at Atomic Records, under The Lovelies section.

And for fans of The Lovelies wondering about the fate of Mueller's nickname, "Liv Lovely?"

"I will keep it in my heart like a magical locket filled with stardust memories and winkle dust."

The band's Web site is thedarkhorseproject.net.