Willis Earl Beale is an enigma. A drifter, a former US marine, a songwriter, an artist, a man living an existentialist existence that makes Jean-Paul Satre seem like an image-obsessed, economically-driven fashionista in comparison.
Nobody Knows is Beale’s latest record. Illustrated with Beale’s cartoon imagery, it’s a picture of sonic and artistic subtlety. On Wavering Lines, Beale is the modern-day preacher, crooning quietly on his dislocated place in the world; on Coming Through, Beale is onstage on Solid Gold, channelling Marvin Gaye in his most positive light. Everything Unwinds is the inevitable in life put into its perfect acapella-soul form; Burning Bridges is dark, but real: it’s the essence of Bobby Womack’s dangerous life, wrapped up in the best white soul Foreigner could never create. Disintegrating is a variation on a theme: a piano in the background, the deserted music hall that’s seen a thousand moments of happiness, and the same number of lives lost to pleasures of ill-repute. Too Dry to Cry is gospel-blues back on the chain gang: rock’n’roll came from the margins, and Willis Earl Beale can see the best and worst in anything.
On What’s the Deal, Beale is in questioner mode: is there a point to all this contemplation and suffocating; does society know what the fuck it’s doing? Ain’t Got No Love suggests resignation; White Noise is sparse, just Beale’s soulful tones and an acoustic guitar. Hole in the Roof is upbeat, a grooving beat and Beale shouting proverbially from the rooftops: has he seen something we should all witness? Blue Escape is the torch song: if Billy Holiday could only look down from above, she’d shed a tear of empathy. Nobody Knows is the answer to the question no-one can articulate, but Beale is pretty sure exists; The Flow is soul in the twilight, the rays of sunlight gradually drowned out by the darkness of human existence.
At the end of the album Beale lays his cards on the table: I am nothing, and nothing is everything, Beale intones. So who is Willis Earl Beale? Nobody knows. But he’s worth searching out.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Wavering Lines
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: MARVIN GAYE, BOBBY WOMACK
In A Word: Enigmatic.
