Her cheery demeanour can mislead those who don’t know her, but make no mistake, Amy Millan’s latest is as grave as it comes.

The Montreal-based chanteuse (and Cabbagetown ex-pat) of Broken Social Scene and Stars fame takes it to the cemetery on Masters of The Burial, her second solo release dropping on September 8. Produced by fellow BSSer Martin Davis Kinack and guest starring Leslie Feist, Liam O’Neil (The Stills) and Evan Cranley (Stars), the album’s cheery, countryfied twang almost makes the listener forget Millan’s waxing poetic on sadness, finality and death, notably on her cover of Death Cab For Cutie’s I Will Follow You Into The Dark (one of three, the others being Sarah Harmer’s Old Perfume and Richard Hawley’s Run For Me.)

Events early on in life might point to her fixation, and why there’s such a jovial underpinning to it.

“I suffered a loss at a very early age, a tragic loss as a kid,” Millan said. “As I got older, I began to understand what happened. I lived with it for a long time, so it became easier to be positive about it and make it work and use it to help other people. A lot of people don’t have that: there’s this fear of knowing what to say.”

Millan notes the disc isn’t as self-absorbed as previous work that you’ll find on 2006 solo debut Honey From The Tombs. Her focus this time around, she says, was on human interaction in everyday events.

“It used to be about what I was feeling, but now I’m in a very different place. I’m not as narcissistic as I was in the past,” she said. “The other day, for example, I was in a store buying a baguette and some cheese and the girl at the counter was crying. But she couldn’t stop working, trying not to cry as she did her job. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I don’t speak French that well and you can’t really ask a stranger something like that anyway. It’s a beautiful thing in its way and it’s completely inspiring.”

Millan will bring some of that inspiration back to her old stomping grounds on September 17 between 3:15-3:40 p.m. at the Hard Rock Cafe at Yonge and Dundas as part of the Canadian Music Cafe, happening during the Toronto International Film Festival. But patient fans can watch her “rock it” at the Mod Club (722 College St.) on Oct. 14.

Though it’s nice to come home, she says, Millan names Ireland as her favourite place to play.

“The Irish have no problem wearing their heart on their sleeve,” she said. “There’s a lot of irony and smugness in Canadian indie rock, but you don’t find that with them. It’s about how much you put your heart into it. Plus there are a lot of laments, mostly sung while drinking. I think, ‘Wow, how could you not be down with that?!’”

Cutting out the pretension and being yourself may just be part of Millan’s appeal. It certainly seems to be her outlook on life.

“Love your belly,” she says, literally and figuratively. “People are way too hard on themselves.”