If Brian Wilson and David Mead adopted a baby, he’d grow up to be Brandon Schott, the L.A.-based singer/songwriter whose lush harmonies, heartfelt lyrics, and gentle, sun-baked melodies have earned him a steadily growing fanbase since he made his solo debut with Release in 2003. Now he’s back with a new album, Dandelion, which forms a sort of song cycle around the year Schott spent learning he had cancer, struggling with the disease, and finally learning he was in remission. For fans of his last album, 2007’s Golden State, the new songs won’t disappoint, but they’re also a progression — they feel deeper, rawer, and less meticulously assembled, while still glowing with the melodic beauty of Schott’s best work.

Brandon was kind enough to take some time to talk with Popdose about what went into the making of Dandelion, which arrives in all the finer digital outlets today.

Okay, let’s start at the beginning: “Seasons Turn,” Dandelion’s opening track. It’s beautiful — more of an invocation than a first song. Can you talk about how it came together?

Thanks! I definitely wanted it to feel like an opening prayer, set that kind of tone for the record. It was written a cappella in the car one afternoon — very shortly after finishing treatment and finding out I was officially in remission. The lyrics and melody all came in that one sitting — just kind of poured through me (I had to pull over a few times to keep up). The track was one of the only ones on the project that wasn’t initiated from scratch for the record during our sessions in the church — a good bit of the song was initially completed at home. When we started tracking the rest of Dandelion in the church the intention was to go in and just record the lead vocal on this one and call it. However, being that we had a pipe organ at our disposal that was aching to be part of the tune, and the harmonium and piano sounded so glorious in this space, the textures kept getting deeper and deeper — and naturally evolved into where it rests now. (more…)