In our review of Wednesday’s Owl City concert at the Ritz in Ybor City, we gushed unapologetically about opener Lights, a.k.a. Valerie Poxleitner, our official Soundcheck celebrity crush.

Before the show, we got to chat with the Canadian electro-popster for a hot minute, during which she dished about Jim Halpert, Lilith Fair, keytars and comic books. As a result, our crush may be nearing stalker status.

Upon seeing our The Office notepad, which features a photo of actor John Krasinski, she said ...

“He’s so attractive in such an unconventional way.” 

Oh, Lights, that’s so true. This is going to be great. 

So, I just saw that you’re playing Lilith Fair?

Yes, I am playing a few dates of it! It’s very exciting. The lineup is nuts — really coming back with a bang. I am huge fan of Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris. I mean, these are classic female songwriters. And you’ve got Tegan and Sara, Sarah McLachlan, fellow Canadians (laughs), the Weepies and Kate Nash. There are female acts on the cutting edge like Metric and La Roux, too. To be a part of it is just amazing. 

How does it feel to be playing sold-out shows every night?

It’s awesome, but I obviously can’t take full credit for that. Owl City is doing an amazing job. It’s great to be on a bill with them because our music is so similar. It’s really nice to be playing for people who enjoy the kind of music I make, because there have been times when that wasn’t the case. I did a small tour with a tech-metal band from Canada called Protest the Hero. Being on that bill was, um, a little different (laughs). But again, this is tour is great — just good, positive electro-pop, perfect for sing-alongs.

What do you think the most-played song on your iPod is right now?

It has to be 156 by a band called Mew. And second would be You Are Mine by Mute Math. And speaking of Mute Math, a little fun fact: If you type the word “keytar” into Wikipedia the first two photos that come up are a photo of Paul Meany from Mute Math and a photo of me. I don’t know him personally, but I am sure we’d get along (laughs).

So what’s going on in your downtime? Are you still working on comic books? 

Yes, I am actually working with Marvel digital comics. We’ve created a character named Captain Lights and we’ve done 10 semi-animated episodes. There’s about seven episodes on YouTube right now. Basically, the character is like a scavenger through a universe where everything is based on sound. A laser gun works a sound round, for example. She is kind of the Han Solo of that, where she fights people along the way. My music is broken down into a score for the background and I do voices, which are really cheesy, but fun. It’s my first real step into the comic world, so it’s very exciting.

-- Carole Giambalvo, tbt*