For Melissa Ferrick’s seventh studio album, “The Other Side,” the folk-rock songstress takes matters into her own, extremely capable hands. With every note written, played, produced, engineered and arranged by Ferrick, one can’t help being blown away not only by her emotionally penetrating lyrics and unflinching guitar, but by her sweeping competence in all aspects of her work.

Ferrick introduces her latest volume of work with “Beijing,” an unusually light, bouncy track for the typically weighty singer-songwriter. The title track, “The Other Side,” continues that tone but Ferrick’s lyrics begin their turn inward. It is on the third track, “Nebraska,” that Ferrick begins to do what she does best: sing about failing relationships and emotional resignation with the fierce, reflective style she has mastered like few others. The track’s raw vocals paired with its heartbreaking lyrics make it by far the best song on the album.

Ferrick concludes the album with the highly produced, experimental “Westbound,” which proves to be very rewarding. Unlike any other song Ferrick has recorded, this track is a hypnotizing lullaby that concludes the album beautifully, leaving a pleasant aftertaste.

Ferrick’s only major failures are in her attempts to be tongue-in-cheek with impersonally awkward lyrics such as “silence is worth more these days/than AOL Time Warner/Or Martha Stewart stocks” in “Beijing” and the highly clich