It’s a good year to be Bitch.

Said artist is being as artistically assertive in 2008 as her nom de plume implies.

For one, Bitch and her new band, the Exciting Conclusion, just released their first recording together, anticipated since the band formed in February 2005. They spent the winter producing the self-titled EP, the first release on Bitch’s own Short Story Records.

“The band and I have been developing our relationship in such an intense way,” Bitch says.

The trio (Bitch, drummer Lee Frisari, bassist Gabriel Kubitz) made the EP a sort of document of their first two years together, a time of solid touring. All that practice is evident in a five-song set that channels divergent emotions, both placid and frenzied.

“We have such a good live energy on stage,” says Bitch, whose signature violin is now even more versatile as an electric instrument. “I really feel like we captured it [on the EP]. We went for a live feeling and sound. We’ve been brewing for a while.”

Her work with the Exciting Conclusion is only the beginning to ’08. Bitch is also producing a record for her friend and musical inspiration Ferron. Bitch nagged Ferron for years to record together, to “make something that keeps the focus on, to me, what the soul of her music is, which is her guitar and her amazing poetry.”

After a planned meeting in New York fell apart, Bitch scheduled a free week into a tour to spend at Ferron’s Michigan home for a recording session, going so far as to camp out front in an RV. The result, Boulder, will be out in May on Second Story. Guests on the CD include such fellow admirers as Ani DiFranco and the Indigo Girls.

“It’s been a dream come true,” Bitch says of the project. “I’ve had to pinch myself over and over about it. All of the people guesting on the record are huge fans of Ferron. It took no effort; every single person I asked to play on it said yes. There’s been so much enthusiasm around it. It was definitely a labor of love.”

As is Second Story, a home Bitch sees for her myriad projects, including poetry collections and a screenplay she’s been writing.

“Life is short,” she says. “All of a sudden I’m like, ‘Let’s just do it. What am I waiting for?’”