For all the struggling artists out there agonizing over the time-worn question of "Is it art?" singer David Usher has a Nike-ian answer.

Just do it.

"You hear it all the time," the poster-boy frontman for the band Moist said during a recent swing through town.

"People debating endlessly over whether something is ‘art’ or not. It’s really such a waste of time; you could use that time just doing something and deciding later what exactly it is."

What Usher has spent a lot of time doing lately is writing intimate, sparse sons on a cheap plywood guitar and putting out a solo album (Little Songs) that has the rare distinction of getting critical praise and decent sales and radio airplay.

"There were times (making the record) that I wondered whether it would stand up, whether the songs would come together. I had the ideas in my head and I knew what I wanted, but I had no idea how it would all be received."

"Really, the project was for me and, after that, you just hope for the best."

"When it was finished, my friends all pretty much told me they dug it and it wasn’t just being nice; they’re pretty honest with me. Too honest, sometimes," he laughs.

"Now it seems like a lot of other people dig it."

What people seem to like most about the disc is its musical simplicity and personal lyrics, a distinct break from the often bombastic approach taken by his band Moist. Too often, a musician’s solo project ends up sounding like his or her original band with different musicians.

"Yeah, I know solo projects can be done that way but, I mean, what would be the point? If the songs had sounded like Moist songs, I would have done them with Moist. That’s why I’m in that band in the first place.

"But Moist writes songs in a very collaborative method, everybody pitches in (although) I write the lyrics most times. These are my songs from start to finish and my arrangements."

The differences quickly become plain when the album hits the player. There are few electric guitars, few traditional drum kits. There are cellos and the occasional trumpet. And mostly, there’s a close feel to the album, a sense that Usher and a couple of friends are playing the songs in the room with you.

The effect was achieved in large part through the fact that the album was recorded in the kitchen of Usher’s apartment in Montreal’s Le Plateau district.

"I have a very understanding land-lord," Usher says, explaining the reaction to trumpets or cellos going at one or two in the morning.

But, if the recording isn’t as raucous as a Moist album, it’s just as intense. Sometimes more so. Where Moist’s material can often be maddeningly cryptic (and downright loopy at times), Usher’s personal songs are most often clear and, well, personal.

"Yeah, these are thoughts and feelings- my thoughts and feelings.

Sometimes they don’t make sense, but that’s life; it doesn’t always make sense."

And, for a guy who can’t read a note, Usher can come up with some darn fine music.

"I really enjoy the melodies on the record. I play basic guitar and, when it comes to the arrangements, I have to hum it out to the other players. Kind of a ‘da, da, da… no, not da, da’ kind of a thing.

"It can take a lot of time, but it’s really worth it."

Mostly, Usher, a Simon Fraser political science grad, says he’s proud of the issues he deals with in his songs. Debate and activism were bred into him by his father, Dan, a professor of economics at Queens University, and his Thai mom.

"I was going to go into international politics (from university) and it’s still a subject that consumes me. World issues, global issues… when I was younger and at home, our dinner table was a constant debate."

The release of Little Songs seems to have mellowed Usher out a little bit. He recently married, too, so he’s cut down on partying around Montreal, although he’s still in love with the city’s "energy and tension."

"Right now, we’re about right in the middle of the next (Moist) album. There’s a lot of work to go, we’ll probably have it out in the new year.

"I’m still not sure whether I’ll tour in support of the solo album. There’s no rush. If the time’s right and the circumstances are right, I’ll just do it."