Before You Go (CD)

Brandon Joseph—known simply as Brandon—emerged from Southern California’s rich creative landscape with a sound that blends understated vulnerability and genre-defying ambition. Brandon found his voice through trial-and-error, persistence and vision, and his songs bear the marks of his resourcefulness: Brandon taught himself guitar by ear, he plays every instrument on virtually every track, and he not only self-produced his debut, he mixed every song as well, finding harmony in their myriad layers. Following the success of Coming Clean and Blush, Brandon’s debut album with Secretly Canadian, set for release in May 2025, is both deeply personal and sonically ambitious.

Written and recorded entirely in his home studio, some of the songs on Before You Go incubated for years while Brandon’s talent and resources caught up to the visions in his mind. A first-ever trip to his family home in Trinidad proved formative as well. There, Brandon’s worldview became more relaxed, more peaceful, and his music followed suit. “I learned to take my time,” he explains, “to look at life differently, and to look at people without the transactional mindset.” The result is a collection of songs that aren’t afraid to be confidently understated.

Lead single “Right Back” embodies Brandon this, with bright, minimal acoustic guitar underneath Brandon’s warm, romantic vocals. The song opens at the intersection of folk and R&B (think early Frank Ocean or Steve Lacy) but it cracks open into something bigger – a windows-down, major-key floater with wistful lyrics, a feather-light syncopated beat and an irresistible, anthemic feel. Known for his magnetic performances alongside Omar Apollo and Mac Ayres, Brandon’s soulful voice cement his place as one of the most compelling new singer-songwriters to emerge in years.

Tracklist

1. You Look Like Love
2. Right Back
3. Serotonin
4. 2 Good
5. Incomplete
6. Miss u
7. The Sun
8. September
9. You
10. Seeing Stars
11. Her Too