Nobody Knows.
After the alt.storybook rise of “outsider artist” Willis Earl Beal—with his no-fi release *Acousmatic Sorcery* and its rudimentary approach to life and music—it was inevitable that there\'s be a second act, perhaps including a professional studio. Yet *Nobody Knows.* is hardly a hi-fi affair. Sure, beats get a little slicker in spots. “Coming Through,” with Chan Marshall adding ghostly whispers and vocals, includes musical backing that sounds like a primitive garage-soul band adding a legitimate R&B groove, but the Tom Waits–like rawness of the gospel-blues-sex shouter “Too Dry to Cry” isn’t much removed from a few songs on the debut. A heavy, dark reverb adds a sense of menace to the strangely orchestrated “What’s the Deal?” A piano ballad like “Blue Escape” sounds like a man sitting at the back of an empty barroom singing for his own entertainment and spiritual release. It\'s quite excellent if you appreciate such odd-fi happenings.
On Willis Earl Beal's second album, Nobody Knows, the music is more diverse and expansive than it was on his 2012 debut, Acousmatic Sorcery. Sounds and styles he only had the tools to hint at before are rendered professionally and in high definition, and his voice is given the sonic space it probably deserves.
On Willis Earl Beal's second album, Nobody Knows, the music is more diverse and expansive than it was on his 2012 debut, Acousmatic Sorcery. Sounds and styles he only had the tools to hint at before are rendered professionally and in high definition, and his voice is given the sonic space it probably deserves.
Beal is a fascinating character, one who feels the need on his second record to remind the world that life freaking sucks.
Beal is a fascinating character, one who feels the need on his second record to remind the world that life freaking sucks.
Nobody Knows is probably the album Willis Earl Beal knew he had always wanted to make. And for those who heard his debut release, 2012's Acousmatic Sorcery, and pegged him solely as an outsider artist, it's probably not the one you expected.
Nobody Knows is probably the album Willis Earl Beal knew he had always wanted to make. And for those who heard his debut release, 2012's Acousmatic Sorcery, and pegged him solely as an outsider artist, it's probably not the one you expected.