She began writing songs in her late teens, in what she admits was a way to get in touch with emotions "left over from a reckless adolescence," at a time in her life when she was feeling extremely isolated from people in her age group and looking to find a niche for herself.
[2] Later they were joined by a live rhythm section consisting of Shawn Dicey (of Ontario’s alternative country band Ox) on drums and Stewart Elton on bass.,[2] and eventually signed to Edmonton's Rectangle Records in 2007.
"[10] Fooks was in a relationship with Whitfield for some time,[5] but currently resides in Montreal, Quebec, where Jane Vain opened a national tour in support of their second studio album, Give Us Your Hands, on June 11, 2010.
[5][13] Other past and present members include Britt Proulx (also of Raccoon), Markus Lake (bass), Jared Larsen (solo artist), and Jzero Schuurman (of Alberta experimental/folk groups Psychic Pollution, and Lucid 44).
[16] The band describes Whitfield’s guitar playing as "haphazard"[2] and Fooks’s experimentation with computerized sounds is evident in the electronic beats strung together with sparse piano arrangements.
"[4] The Montreal Mirror describes their songs as being "[n]uanced arrangements of strings, synths, guitar, piano, percussion and electronic beats [that] form an elegant but vibrant base for Fooks’s lovely vocals, and melancholy, even macabre little narratives.