Canada has rewarded the United States with many once-hidden gifts, from Pamela Anderson to Wayne Gretzky. Until recent years, their gifts to rock music were fairly limited.

Things have changed.

The most recent gift comes in the form of Leslie Feist, a singer-songwriter from north of the border. She has contributed to indie rock supergroup Broken Social Scene and performs solo under the apt pseudo-pseudonym Feist. She is known best for her song "Mushaboom," from her album Let It Die, which has netted her an mtvU Woodie Award nomination for Best Live Action Video.

I had the opportunity to take part in an online chat with the siren from the Great White North.

Q: Where is your all time favorite place to play a show?

A: My favorite show of all time was in Porto, Portugal at an old brick cylindrical grape-crushing warehouse with a stage at one end.

Q: What was the influence for your video "Mushaboom"?

A: You'd have to ask Patrick Daughters, who directed it. I've co-directed two of the other videos that I've made but decided to put myself into his hands for this one. Next thing I knew I was wearing a harness and jumping out of a fifth-story window in Prague.

Q: Your albums are of great in their own right, but your live shows are amazing. Any plans for a live CD or DVD and when we could expect it?

A: I recorded the last couple tours with the hopes to one day make Let It Live, an album to bridge the gap between Let It Die and what those songs became when I began touring them.

Q: Are you working on a new album?

A: Yes. It's almost finished. I have to fess up that I'm sitting here with the guy who made Let It Die with me (Chilly Gonzales) and he told me to respond with "ask them if they've ever heard of Google."

Q: For all the nominees, what do you think of the other bands you're up against for the Woodies? Do you think you have a good chance of winning?

A: Jenny Lewis is my little redheaded nemesis. I'm going to take her down. I mean take her down to a '50s dance party like I did two nights ago when we were both in Toronto. We sock hopped all night. If someone had filmed that party it'd definitely win the live action video award. If you can't beat them, dance with them.

Q: What exactly is the meaning of the word Mushaboom?

A: Find a map, find Canada on it, then find Halifax, then move your index finger to the right one centimeter (that's an inch to you guys) and you'll see Mushaboom. I saw a house there once, dreamed of buying it and then rubbed the two pennies I had in my pocket together and kept driving.

Q: You recorded and toured with Broken Social Scene a few years back, how was that and did it influence your music at all?

A: Broken is the huge hectic family picnic, so when I pack my own lunch and go off on my own I feel the night and day of group vs. solo. I'm still in the band. There are five of them who hold down the fort and the rest of us come and go. It's an elastic concept of a band.

Q:Do you think that the college-aged set is the best listening-group to aim for instead of a' tween group or adult alternative, as far as loyalty to your sound and band goes?

A: College aged people are hungry for soundtracks to their kisses in the rain and dorm room make-outs. I like to get in on the memory-making moments.

Q: What are you doing with your new album that differs from your past work? Are you taking a different approach in any way?

A: This album was recorded live as opposed to in the vacuum of overdubs. I'm aiming for an April Fool's Day release.