Due to extenuating circumstances, which we’ll explain in a bit, dream-pop singer-songwriter Phildel Hoi Yee Ng came to music later on in life than she would have preferred. But now that she’s established herself as a genuine talent, she’s not wasting any time.

That much is obvious from the when-you’ve-got-lemons satisfaction she’s squeezing out of the travel disaster that finds her stranded in Utah on the day of her interview with the Straight.

“I was actually supposed to be doing a U.S. live tour, but our work visas didn’t come through in time,” says the 29-year-old, who performs under her first name alone. “So it’s been really awful, actually. We’ve had to cancel all the live dates, but because all my flights and hotels were booked, I’m just turning it into a holiday.”

Make that a working holiday. While in Utah, Phildel’s booked a meeting with Provo-based electronic musician and producer Sleepthief, who wants her to sing on his next recording project. And when she comes to Vancouver, she’ll embark on another collaboration, this one with Delerium’s Bill Leeb.

“It’s really lovely, collaborating, because in both cases I’m able to explore really new ground, and to write in a slightly different way,” she explains. “Normally, I create everything from scratch, whereas with these collaborations they’ve created the music and production. And then it’s my role to create the melody and the lyrics, and to sing those as well. There’s an element of exploring another artist’s world through the music, which is really interesting for me.”

Phildel’s collaborative ease—as well as the assured presence she projects on her sophomore effort, The Disappearance of the Girl—is especially surprising given that music was quite literally forbidden territory until she was well into her teens. Thanks to her Islamic-fundamentalist stepfather, she wasn’t allowed to sing or play an instrument at home, and it wasn’t until she ran away at 17 that she was able to pursue what had long been her secret passion.

“‘The Disappearance of the Girl’ is really directly referring to a lot of things involved in my upbringing,” she says of her 2013 release’s title track. “It kind of represents me disappearing into this world of silence and control and restriction and religious fundamentalism. It also represents me running away from home. That was another disappearance, from that world back into our liberal society. I think the theme of disappearing is really strong for me in my life.”

Now that she’s found her true calling, though, Phildel seems here to stay.