Early this year, Thunderheist officially announced they were playing their “LAST EVER shows” and members Grahm Zilla and Isis Salam were going to concentrate on their own solo endeavors from here on out.

Last week at Pop Montreal, Isis performed a 50-minute set of new material off her forthcoming solo record (which has been described as “like Betty Davis fronting Joy Division”). Literally minutes before the gig opening for Polaris Music Prize nominees Radio Radio, AUX sat down with Isis, did some shots of Appleton Estate and talked about the record, which includes her new track “Avenue” that’s currently up on her MySpace.

“‘Avenue’ was my first attempt at producing music,” she said. “With Thunderheist, I only wrote the lyrics and then Grahm would essentially build the music around my lyrics. So this time around I’m writing the music and writing the lyrics and working with different producers to actually put it all together.”

Speaking directly about the songs recorded for the new solo album Isis said, “It’s still very electro-based. My influences you can really hear. Like Betty Davis, Debbie Harry, The Doors, Joy Division. Someone was saying the other day that it was like Betty Davis fronting Joy Division. It’s danceable, but I wouldn’t say it’s dance music.”

Isis has been writing since she was thirteen and has always written about whatever she is feeling, whether through the poetry or rap circuit, however she admits most of the tracks on the new record are about someone in particular.

“Against every bone in my body, it turned out to be a lot of songs about my ex-boyfriend. I find a lot of the things I write about are general inspirations, like people. It’s usually me giving myself advice or giving somebody else advice. I kind of approach it from a conversational place.

“Songs can really make or break a mood and can lift you out of a slump,” she said. “Sometimes that super sad song is exactly what you want to hear. Something that’s really able to capture your emotions. That’s, I guess, what I’m trying to do.”

Although the album is on schedule to be released in May or April of next year, with singles and more music to download between then and now, the singer said starting off the solo effort was a tough task.

“It’s nice to finally have more artistic control,” she said. “It’s funny that I wanted artistic control so bad and then once I got it I was like ‘what do I do? There’s nobody giving me beats!’ It was a bit of a struggle the first month. I really felt I was a divorcee having to fix the car myself for the first time. Had no idea what to do or where to take it to. But now I’m figuring it out.”