Devon Williams has been doing plenty of travelling this year, and not just in a cramped tour van, even though that’s what he’s driving when the Georgia Straight tracks him down on a highway outside of Montreal. The Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter is happy to report that he recently did a short swing through the U.K., the fact that he’s jet-setting overseas presumably a sign that his fan base isn’t limited to North America. There is some truth to that notion, although the 29-year-old makes a point of stating that he’s not exactly filling Wembley Arena overseas.

“I wouldn’t say that we are actually in demand in England,” Williams says self-deprecatingly, speaking on his cellphone in a field after pulling the van over. “It’s more that the people that we work with seem to think that we have the potential to be in demand, which is good enough for me. We just like taking advantage of whatever opportunities come our way. And it’s been fun. It’s my feeling that there’s so much music out there that it’s hard for anyone to feel like ‘I’m going to listen to this record over that one.’ But Slumberland [Records], our manager, and our booking agent seem to think that we really need to push a little bit. They are doing their best to get the record heard.”

The record that he speaks of is Euphoria, the sophomore solo full-length from the man who once fronted Los Angeles punk agitators Osker. Released on Slumberland, the album traffics in a brand of cinematic guitar pop that brings to mind both the psychedelicized-bubblegum greatness of Redd Cross and the symphonic sublimeness of Brian Wilson. Standouts like “Revelations” and “Slight Pain” overflow with epic string swells and multilayered vocals. Williams also proves himself willing to strip things back, with “Right Direction” built on a base of paisley-flavoured acoustic guitars. But mostly Euphoria is the kind of rich and rewarding triumph that lives up to its name, especially if you’ve hit the bong right before cuing it up.

While it doesn’t sound as laboured over as, say, Chinese Democracy, Williams admits that the record didn’t come easily, this partly due to the fact that he was in a relationship. Looking back, he realizes he was often under pressure to spend time with his girlfriend when he would rather have been working on music, creating a situation where he felt like a “shit boyfriend and a shit musician”.

“I worked on this record for so long,” he says. “I worked on it constantly, changing lyrics all the way right up to the end. It’s kind of a dark record, I think, because it came out five months after we broke up after being together for four years. I’m not sad about it, though—it was all definitely a learning experience.”

And, as part of that learning experience, Williams is determined not to stretch out the recording process for Euphoria’s follow-up, which, with any luck, will end up taking him not only overseas to England but, hopefully, beyond.

“I learned my lesson doing this record,” he says. “I’ve got a bunch of songs ready for the next one and an awesome band that I love. Hopefully, we’ll have a new record out by next summer. We’re going to go home on Sunday before we head out again and then finish working on some recordings that we’ve already started on.”

And, in case you were wondering, Williams and company will be flying, not driving. Read into that what you will.

Devon Williams plays the Biltmore Cabaret on Tuesday (December 13).