willis earl beal: nobody knows

Depending on what state of mind you find him in, Willis Earl Beal will tell you that Nobody knows. is his debut album or the natural follow up to Acousmatic Sorcery. While Acousmatic Sorcery was recorded on a karaoke machine, using found instruments, it worked as a raw, no-fi introduction to Beal’s life as a songwriter and true outsider artist from Chicago, IL, but did little to display the power and natural beauty of the voice he used onstage. Nobody knows. aims to deliver on the promise of his live show, combining soul baring vocals with sounds and arrangements rooted in everything from orchestral blues to ambient r&b, and gentle lullabies to pure cacophony. Recorded “everywhere and nowhere” and produced by Beal under the guise of “Nobody”, the album builds on an ideology that exists at the forefront of the album’s title and lyrics - I am nothing. Nothing is everything. Beal says, “I want to be a shadow, not the man casting it. That’s who ‘Nobody’ is.”