Right on the cusp of recording his debut solo album, Vancouver singer-songwriter and Hey Ocean! founder David Beckingham developed a hemorrhagic polyp on his vocal cords.

Sounds horrible? It’s even worse than you’re imagining.

“This is going to seem really woo-woo and West Coast,” Beckingham tells the Straight over a tea at JJ Bean, “but my polyp happened when I was at a spiritual healer’s house. I was in a trance, and she said, ‘You’re holding things in your stomach—you’ve got to let them out. You should yell.’ And something in me was thinking ‘No, you shouldn’t yell: you’re a singer.’ But another part of me was like, ‘Go with this, man. Release it!’

“About a month later my throat was still sore from the shouting,” Beckingham continues. “I’d be singing and then I’d suddenly hit a point where my voice just wouldn’t be there. That was super scary, because I was right in the middle of creating this record. So I went to the doctor, and he said that I had a blood blister on the fold where my vocal cords touch. He gave me a choice. I could have surgery, or I could decide not to speak for two whole months. It was hard, but I went for the silence.”

After 60 days of communicating with a voice app that would give Stephen Hawking’s monotone a run for its money, Beckingham’s commitment paid off. Released in May, the singer-guitarist’s Just When the Light sees him push beyond Hey Ocean!’s girl-boy vocals and funky bass lines into a more versatile, folky realm. Album opener “Explosion” draws on Beckingham’s childhood in Kenya, sketching a melody and beat that wouldn’t sound out of place on Paul Simon’s Graceland, while dreamy standout “Montreal” offers a Belle and Sebastian-esque narrative about Beckingham’s experience of skipping town.

“Just When the Light is very introspective,” Beckingham says, “so off the bat those songs are really different from my work with Hey Ocean!. Collaboration has this push and pull that creates great results, but I’m enjoying being on my own and trusting what I feel in the moment. Hey Ocean! was about working together to make anthemic pop, but I like that these solo tracks can be more individual.”

Luckily for his songwriting (but less so for his personal life), a turbulent 2015 offered Beckingham a wealth of material for the new album. At the same time as he was dealing with his hemorrhagic polyp, Beckingham was coming to terms with a difficult breakup with his long-term partner. Shaped by the singer’s attempts to navigate a new chapter of his life, Just When the Light offers some touchingly honest lyrics.

“I spent a lot of time wondering whether to release the details of my breakup to the public,” Beckingham says, “and in retrospect it seems a bit gratuitous to have shared it. But it definitely forms the basis of a lot of the record. It affects the mood more than anything, and there are certain tracks that have helped me to think through what’s been going on in my life romantically. The song ‘Soldier’ is about that. It talks about feeling unable to find someone anymore, using the metaphor of a dirty soldier trudging around, knowing that his death is imminent.

“Songwriting is definitely cathartic for me,” he continues. “When a track comes easily, it’s the greatest feeling. I’ve tried a lot of drugs, and this is the best one. And I think the same can be said for any creative endeavour. Getting inspiration from above can help you work out your feelings—and that’s one of the most healing things a person can experience.”

Beckingham’s newfound dedication to his craft has seen him take an indefinite hiatus from the party scene that surrounded Hey Ocean!. Now recognizing the need to put his well-being first—an approach the singer says he wishes he’d adopted sooner in his musical career—Beckingham is enjoying taking life at a slower pace.

“I’m so focused on what is best for my songwriting that I’m pretty introverted right now,” he says. “Unless there’s a show I want to see, I’m a bit of a hermit. I have one-on-one hangouts, and I don’t really go out. My favourite things to do are listen to podcasts and write songs. I’ve found that I need a healthier paradigm in order to be a better artist, so I don’t drink and party very much anymore.

“Making this album helped me accept some tough things that were happening in my life, and emerge a better person,” he continues. “And given how much I’ve had to write about this year, it’s definitely the best collection of songs I’ve recorded to date.”

David Beckingham plays the Waldorf’s Hiatus Music Festival on Saturday (July 23).

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