Songwriter Anne Castellano starts with the lyrics

This episode of our Song Spinner series, which takes you into the hearts and minds of local musicians and their creative process, tells the story of "Enough" by Anne Castellano.It starts with the lyrics.

BIO: Anne Castellano is a popular presence on the local indie scene, as well as host of the WCNI show "Deranged Radio." A former member of the 9 Day Wonders, the Skin Walkers and the punk-forged electric guitar duo the Cavities, Castellano - armed with just a guitar and a drum machine - went on her own in 2007. She started work on her first solo project about a year ago. The subsequent CD, "What's Been Going On," is just out from the Cosmodemonic Telegraph label.

SOUND: It's the lush sparkle of a heavily chorused Fender 12-string electric, propelled in finest minor-chord fashion. The rhythms and constructions recall Johnny Marr, Robert Smith and the Lemonheads, and Castellano's evocative, low-key voice conveys subtle emotion.

HOW THE SONG CAME ABOUT: Castellano's not the first to spin frustration with a day gig into sonic art, but "Enough" hauntingly distances itself from the bile-erupting associations of "Take This Job and Shove It." She tapped into the anxieties and stress of a sour employment situation in the hopes of cathartic release - and let the inspiration guide her. "I almost always start with the lyrics," she says, "and then try to fashion an appropriate melody from the words."

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: Once she'd come up with a verse, tune and chorus that fit comfortably in her vocal range - "I'm a big fan of A minor," she laughs - she played around and found chords that fit the melody. To her happy surprise, a melancholy but defiant minor-key chord structure she'd written years ago and never used popped in her head and helped flesh out the music. "You never know when or how something will come together, but it's a release when it happens," she says. "I tend to write about dark situations, but just the process of songwriting itself shows that something good can come out of it all."