Seven years ago Montreal-based singer Lhasa de Sela released La Llorona , an album of emotion-drenched songs that drew on the traditions of Mexican balladeers, French chansonniers, and Quebecois poets. The album was a huge international hit, selling 400,000 copies in France alone, and in its wake Lhasa performed several times in Vancouver, gaining a strong local following. Then she disappeared completely from the radar--no touring, no albums, no nothing--leaving legions of fans wondering what became of the elfin singer with the smoky, impassioned voice.

"I was starting to feel kind of self-conscious and paranoid, and getting more and more afraid of making mistakes," explains de Sela, interviewed in a Vancouver hotel room a few months ago. "Also I was really longing to be with my family. So I went off to France to be with my sisters who are performers in a small touring circus there. We put together a show called La Maison Autre , [ The Other House ], and toured it for about a year. Then I went to live in Marseilles and wrote songs. I think it was a good strategy to wait for so long that my desire to sing on my own overcame all my fears and worries."

De Sela was in town to promote her "comeback", The Living Road , an album of 12 new compositions recorded in 2003 with percussionist Franí§ois Lalonde and pianist Jean Massicotte, both of whom worked with her on La Llorona as producers and arrangers. The music is mainly acoustic and the lyrics--sung in Spanish, French, and English--speak of the singer's search for love and identity through images that have a surreal undertow. Like its predecessor, The Living Road has proved a major success on both sides of the Atlantic.

According to de Sela the album was seven months in the making. "I don't know why it took so long, but every single moment was necessary. Franí§ois and Jean went all the way and got into the magical mood and atmosphere I was dreaming of making, and that took time to build. It was a process of finding the soul of each song and bringing it out. We were all incredible perfectionists."

De Sela, who plays the Commodore Ballroom on Monday (June 28) as part of a double bill with Calexico, doesn't plan to rejoin her sisters' circus anytime soon. "I miss my family but this feels much better to me, and I'm much less tormented than I was. I'm where I'm supposed to be, and I'm writing more songs. I don't feel I'm going to have to take another five-year break before my next album. It feels good to be back."