Willis Earl Beal's album Nobody Knows is a little challenging to listen to.
When I first listened to Beal's debut album, Acousmatic Sorcery, I struggled. It seemed an unlistenable, lo-fi, experimental nonsense of a mess. But I persisted. And persisted. And it grew on me and kept growing.
Now it's more about the voice - and oh what a voice.
It's as if
Beal has shrugged off the wacky persona to concentrate on the music. It's still very much him, but he's given in to the polish of a recording studio.
Not that it's not recognisably him.
But the soul is that much smoother, less raw, but with equal if not greater emotion. And Beal's emotion comes in great dollops.
