“I was very nervous at those first gigs . . . It was the crowd who made me feel I could do it.” -Carla Werner

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CARLA Werner has always known what she wanted to do with her life.

“Even when I was young,” the 29-year-old singer says, “I wanted to be a performer.”

Despite a couple of false starts – including the New Zealand native’s attempt at crooning country style – her desire became reality when she started performing at 19.

“It was very scary for me,” she told The Post the other day from her home in L.A., in her light Kiwi accent.

“I had something to say, and I had to find the courage to say it. I was very nervous at those first gigs, playing my own songs. It was the crowd who made me feel I could do it and that I was in the right place.”

The images she sings about in her debut album, “Departure,” out this week, are like Werner’s vivid dreams. The last one she remembers is watching herself stand on a hill, watching airplanes attempt to land on a tiny field.

“Not every plane was able to touch down,” she said. “It was a matter of how skillful the pilot was.”

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but her dream might hint at her finally getting her music on solid ground with a recording deal.

When Werner isn’t making music, she runs. She’s single, but has a longtime boyfriend – musician Lucius Borich – who produced two of the tracks on her album.

Post: At first, you sang country. There’s hardly a hint of twang left in your voice.

Werner: I lost my appreciation of country music when I was about 20. I was really over it. I was a kid. I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m doing some writing on the side that certainly has some of that sound in it. My twang is in there somewhere.

Post: You’re still a newcomer. What can your listeners expect?

Werner: Melodic rock. I want them to hear the honesty in my music. Some people says it’s ethereal. I think of it as poetic descriptions of what I’m feeling at the moment.

Post: Why “at the moment”?

Werner: Some things have an urgent need to be expressed.

Post: Isn’t your music a little melancholy?

Werner: Yeah, it is. A rainy day is the perfect environment to listen to it. Melancholy is really part of everyday life, and my music is a product of that. It is a natural thing for me to write about.

Post: Are there any recurring themes?

Werner: One is the feeling of being lost and trying to find to find my way through. That might sound down, but there is also an optimistic point of view, whether in the melody or the lyrics. It’s like that little bit of sunshine breaking through on a cloudy day. Am I being too serious?

Post: No, but will you talk about one of the album’s most serious songs, “Wanderlust”?

Werner: I wrote that song for a friend of mine who lost his fight with depression and committed suicide a couple of years ago. It was one of those things that affected me quite a lot. The beautiful thing about songwriting is you can put a melancholy story like that inside a bright melody, creating something new.

Post: Do you use music to work out what causes you stress?

Werner: Writing a song like that is a very cathartic process. You have to examine everything that happened to this man, how life affected him and, obviously, how the event affected me.

Post: This may sound odd to

a songwriter, but your tunes are

packed with words.

Werner: I’m very fond of words and wordplay. It’s been that way for me since I was a child. I was in a creative writing class when I was 5. What I’m trying to do in the songs is make the language as colorful as I can, to promote a visual aspect to the music. That’s why there’s substantial lyric content. It’s the only way to get the message across.

Post: Who is your audience? Kids? Adults? Grammarians?

Werner: I’ve just finished a tour with the Jayhawks, and after every gig, there’s been 16-year-olds and 60-year-olds who want to chat with me. I believe my place is with music-loving people who appreciate lyrics, people who feel the same things that I do.

Post: Is the ability to relate to the stories in the music that important?

Werner: Yes, people don’t feel so alone then. I want to share this music with as many people as I can.

Post: In New York, it’s hard to feel alone.

Werner: I don’t believe it. There isn’t enough union between us all. I think we have to let each other know that we’re all going through the mental anguish of trying to live life and sustain a decent lifestyle. The more we relate to each other and share a bond, the more positive direction for humanity. To be alone is a crying shame.

Post: What’s the secret of your success so far?

Werner: You have to be willing to make mistakes. Fresh mistakes are good. Whether you’re right or wrong, it doesn’t matter; it’s all a part of experience. Mistakes show you don’t always have the answer. Personally, I’m very imperfect.

Post: Have you ever said that in a song?

Werner: Sure. In “Like Mercury,” I sing, “All the old days are gone away, like Mercury they rise and fall in yesterdays,” meaning that the experience of life has taken me up and down. The next line is, “All the new days white and gray are waiting on mistakes yet to be made.”

Post: Where do your best mistakes come from?

Werner: When I get too honest with people – that gets you into sticky situations. That’s my Sagittarian nature.