Killing them softly

By Lauren Gitlin

Leslie Feist is blowing up. A few days before Christmas, the 31-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter is cooling her heels in the wilds of Ohio with a team of fireworks technicians, preparing to film the video for her upcoming single "I Feel It All." "It's me inside a balloon of fireworks," explains the singer, who goes simply by Feist. "They have little microchips inside of each firework, and they can insert a time code so it matches up to a song. They explode in the air right on the beat you want. It's pretty crazy."

The singer's rise from indie-rock chanteuse with an offbeat résumé (she's sung opera, fronted a punk band and opened for the Ramones) to music sensation has been crazier still. Her second studio album, the gorgeously lo-fi "The Reminder," has sold steadily since its May release. It also has garnered critical praise and earned her four Grammy nods, including one for Best New Artist. And thanks in part to an iPod Nano commercial featuring a video for her sprightly single "1234," the former cult favorite is selling out venues and has extended her tour well into 2008.

Live, Feist weaves workmanlike melodies into orchestral masterpieces, using everything from delay pedals to her audience to create swelling multipart harmonies. "I got to an early show of hers at a packed bar in Rotterdam," says Martin Kierszenbaum, head of Feist's label, Cherrytree Records. "Her performance blew me away. I thought, 'She could be the next Joni Mitchell or Rickie Lee Jones.' "

The prospect of another year on tour doesn't seem to faze Feist. "I'm gonna buy a drum kit and set up a little jam spot. I'm writing casually without any deadline in mind," she says. And she has already found one perk to being in a new city every day: She's started combing the vintage shops in search of a one-of-a-kind Grammy dress.

Feist is nominated for Best New Artist in the 2008 Grammy Awards, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 10.