The last time the Georgia Straight sat down with Daniel Wesley—back in July 2011, after the release of his Easy Livin’ CD—was in the sunshine outside a Commercial Drive coffee shop. This time around, when the White Rock–born singer-songwriter drops by the office to chat about his new album, Ocean Wide, warm rays stream in through a boardroom window.

The sun, which also figures prominently on the cover of Ocean Wide, just seems to follow him around.

But the real sunshine in Wesley’s life actually appeared two months ago—on March 8, to be exact—when he welcomed his son, Finn, into the world. On the new album’s soothing closer, “Be My Light”, Wesley—with soulful backup from the Sojourners—anticipates the arrival of his first child.

“I’ve been a lover, I’ve been a man,” he croons gently, “but I cannot wait till you’re in my hands.”

“I never really go, ‘I want to write about this,’ ” Wesley explains, “but I definitely knew there was a real shift in my life coming, and I wanted to encapsulate that in a song. It’s about your own mortality and the fact that someone is gonna come behind you and you’re gonna show them all the things you know—and by doing that you’re gonna learn so many things yourself.

“I never really thought about that before,” he continues. “I mean, I always wanted to be a dad, and I was really excited, but it just kind of smacked me in the face that one night when I wrote that song.”

Today’s Daniel Wesley—the responsible, fatherly type—has come a long way from the 26-year-old singing about catching waves and smoking ganja in “Ooo Ohh”, the feel-good hit that became CFOX’s most requested song of 2007.

“The whole surf-reggae kind of acoustic thing was something that came naturally and I just did it and people caught on to it,” he recalls. “On the albums since then, I’ve tried to make sure that I harness what people liked from the very beginning and keep that in there, but also intersperse it with some new stuff.”

One example of Wesley switching gears on Ocean Wide is the track “Fuel to Fire”, which sounds more like a British Invasion rave-up than a whimsical stoner ode penned on Crescent Beach. But Wesley swears he didn’t spend any time boning up on old Yardbirds LPs for inspiration.

“I didn’t really have a master plan for anything,” he points out. “I was sitting in the guitar room at home and just started hitting chords and things just kinda came out. Then, when we were in the studio, I added that twangy guitar line, which is where the ’60s sound comes from, I guess.

“When I have an idea I just put it down,” he adds, “and if it sounds good I move on.”