At 16 she began writing and performing songs accompanied by guitar. She moved to Montréal in 1995 to study Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Concordia University, and in 1997 released her first recording, 1am to 5am.
She played violin with her dad and joined in on her mother's repertoire of Canadian folk songs. At age 14 she started dabbling in audio production and multitrack composition with a four-track tape recorder and a house full of musical instruments and objects to make noise with.