ISSA doesn't do much press these days. Doesn't need to. There's not much history to tell yet as she traverses the country in the midst of her Snarling Dog Tour.

June 3 2006, in a bold, progressive, move alternative muse ISSA who once lived as avant garde doyenne Jane Siberry decluttered her world selling her car, house and other "obstacles". Then collectively knocking music moguls on their fine tuned diffs, she offered her entire music catalog to the CyberWorlds for free.

It’s up to you to pay for it as part of a payment system called Self Determined Pricing. ISSA's success has to do with the simple, honest, way she has worded the concept, and the loyalty of her long-time fan base. Radiohead tried this same idea for latest CD In Rainbows. Now their website says you can no longer download it. So not everyone can make Self Determined Pricing work yet ISSA manages to sustain it.

Despite the hunger for all things digital, there are still fans who want to have something solid and tangible to listen to. Good luck trying to find Jane Siberry CDs in music stores. They are a rare commodity these days. ISSA songs are only available online at Sheeba.

ISSA is currently on tour with bassist Rich Brown, pianist Tim Ray and special guest Adrienne Pierce through North America until Dec 21. Clad in stylish chapeau, covering cropped dark copper hair, sachaying in long flowered dress and chic boots, ISSA, on her opening night gig, entertained Kitchener's Registry Theatre capacity crowd of fans young and old with exciting new melodies, poignant prose, and acid wit.

This short interview was conducted a few nights before the Registry Theatre perfomance.

[Suite101] How do you know when a song is finished or when it is time to let go of a song?

[ISSA] "I use my body a lot. It’s just a relaxation, you just know that’s it done. Your stomach stops twisting when you hear things that aren’t quite right. It’s pretty easy."

[Suite101] So a physical thing more than a cerebral thing..

[ISSA] "Yes. I use my body a lot."

[Suite101] How do you write your songs these days?

[ISSA] "I hear them in my head pretty quickly and sometimes I just go to the studio and wait until I hear something or I’ve got it written down in advance."

[Suite101] What’s the most unusual instrument or sound that you’ve used of late?

[ISSA] "I think something that interests me a lot is creating sounds through rhythms and not normal drums so it’s using knee slapping and or laying rhythms across each other so they are not normal. I am very tired of drums so I have been looking for new ways to feel the rhythms without having normal drums."

[Suite101] You have a simpler life now. Do you find the images in nature have become more integral to your work?

[ISSA] "No, it’s always been that way. What has changed is me expressing it. It’s moving into the music and even more so into the new Issa stuff."

[Suite101] The instrumentation seems simpler.

[ISSA] "Yeah, okay. If I Ever See Mark Benson is just live guitar and voice, and I have done that before. Anytime is more open and that’s definitely suits me just fine."

[Suite101] What sparked the idea for Mark Benson?

[ISSA] "This song is about the desire to tie up loose ends and complete circles."

[Suite101] Sheeba also promotes other artists. Where did you discover Adrienne Pierce and Gyan pronounced (Gee-Yan)

[ISSA] "Adrienne worked with me at Sheeba, my record company in Vancouver and she has become a close friend (Pierce is known for song Fool’s Gold on Gray’s Anatomy and Veronica Mars Lost and Found). Gyan is a friend I met in Australia and has a certain something that made me feel comfortable about adding her music to the Sheeba store."

[Suite101] How do you book your venues?

[ISSA] "I have an agent in the States in Ann Arbor and they do all my bookings – one of the few people in my circle that I have retained but I really trust them."

For more about ISSA’s tour go to the Issalight website To download the newest ISSA songs check out the Sheeba website.