On her first album since 2008’s “Symphony” (and “Winter Symphony”), Sarah Brightman alternately coos and belts, sometimes backed by lush layers of strings and synthesizers, other times by jarring percussion and quirky instrumentation.

And somehow, she crafts an ethereal brew out of it all.

Brightman, an operatic pop soprano who helped birth the classical crossover genre that includes singers from Andrea Bocelli to Jackie Evancho, is a stunning vocalist. Even when her song choices lean toward swelling bombast (she was married to Andrew Lloyd Webber, after all), they’re eminently listenable because of her crystalline pipes.

The songs on “Dreamchaser” would be well-suited as backdrops to a quiet evening with wine glasses and fireplaces, but they’re also best appreciated with headphones given that each song is a sonic layer cake of strings, synths and that luminous voice.

True to her genre, Brightman sometimes heads classical (“Lento E Largo from Symphony No. 3, OP. 36”) and sometimes pop (Paul McCartney's “Venus and Mars”). And sometimes, as on “B612,” she vocalizes sounds, not proper lyrics.

While the entire album is oddly intoxicating, standouts include “Ave Maria,” which is as grand as a cathedral choral performance and filled with understated reverence, and “Closer,” an arrangement of Mike Oldfield’s unlikely hit from 1973, “Tubular Bells.” OK, so the song’s U.S. popularity came from its use in “The Exorcist.” But there is only an angelic quality to Brightman’s eight-minute “Closer,” as well as her Enya-meets-Broadway version of Sigur Ros', “Glosoli.”

Brightman postponed her spring tour until fall (she plays the Fox Oct. 9) so fans would have time to get acquainted with her new material and she could dedicate some training hours for her trip to the International Space Station in 2015.

Yes, Brightman is heading toward the stars, and this dreamy collection of 11 songs should be her perfect soundtrack.