It's not of Chinese Democracy proportions, but four years between albums can be a long time, especially when the musician is sitting on the record for a big chunk of that time.

Singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata, who plays the Mod Club Friday, knows all about that. Her latest release, the two-disc Elephants ... Teeth Sinking Into Heart, was a case of hurry up and wait.

"I always knew I could end up releasing it myself, which I threatened to do several times," she says. "I always felt like it would come out. I just wanted to take my time and see if I could set up the best platform possible."

Although forgetting exactly when she finished the project, Yamagata, 30, basically secluded herself from the outside world and wrote roughly 160 songs.

But while recording the softer, lush full-length Elephants, Yamagata wanted to showcase the rock side of her music, which resulted in Teeth Sinking Into Heart.

"All I knew was that if I was going to do some of the up-tempo guitar ones, I wanted to really take them to an extreme and not do any kind of smooth, easy-listening rock," she says. "I wanted to make it my own and reflect the music to the lyric, which I thought was sassy, biting and in your face."

And while it's that rock feel that comes through on Accident and Faster, the singer shines on the gentle, soulful and reflective numbers, at times recalling Shelby Lynne on such tracks as Little Life and Sunday Afternoon. The latter was recorded around the time of her 2004 debut album Happenstance.

"I remember when we were first working it up to do it for a live show and it coming together and taking on this first formation," she says of Sunday Afternoon.

"Through the years, it's certainly changed a bit and grown more dynamic but it really serves as something that could merge my two selves: The balladry with the rock capability."

Another memorable number off the album is Duet, which Yamagata recorded off-the-floor with fellow acclaimed singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne.

"For that one, we literally pushed everyone out of the studio except for (producer) Mike Mogis and we just said, 'Don't say a word to us until we get it,' " she says. "So we just ran the tape and just did take after take."

Yamagata relishes the chance to get back on the road as a headliner following the Hotel Cafe Tour featuring herself and four other female singer-songwriters.

While she enjoyed the tour, she's eager to have her own supporting cast "at my fingertips to create our own show."

The thought of performing Elephants in its entirety is also something she's toyed with.

"I would love to, actually," she says. "If I could have some string players along with me and control the setting in a way of picking the rooms, I would love to do that."

But for now Yamagata says the soft numbers and the harder, rocking songs are complementing each other well in concert.

So will the next album be out by 2012?

"It'd better," she says with a laugh. "If I have anything to do with it, it may come out late next year."