Last Minute Plans: Willis Earl Beal's 'Nobody Knows' Record Release Show At Schubas
By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 6, 2013 4:00PM
Image via XL Recordings
It seems not long ago that Willis Earl Beal was posting fliers on the West Side asking someone—anyone—to give him a call in trade for a free song. The world didn’t know back then that Beal had been down-and-out and dumped in Albuquerque before returning to his hometown Chicago. But it quickly became clear with the 2012 release of his debut album, Acousmatic Sorcery—a vulnerable soul and blues collection born from desperate loneliness and destitution, pieced together from recordings he almost abandoned in New Mexico after a breakup with his girlfriend.
Since then, he’s hit it big despite efforts to stay small, touring the globe, finding his face on the cover of magazines, bringing on a backup band, and leaving his hometown for New York. You’d expect, now that he’ll never again need to advertise for friends, that he’d have lost the heavyheartedness that made his first album so striking. But Nobody Knows is evidence that this is far from the case.
His second album is of noticeably higher quality (his debut was, after all, recorded on a karaoke machine), but it still feels somehow sincere and uncalculated. The 13-song work centers around the theme of identity, or rather the lack of it. Maybe that’s why Nobody Knows reflects such a kaleidoscope of emotions and personalities. It’s gritty and maniacal at times (“Ain’t Got No Love”) and meanders existentially at others (“Wandering Lines”). He takes things a satisfyingly raunchy route with “Disintegrating” and then breaks your heart with vicious tracks such as “What’s the Deal.” And there are moments of modern-day Memphis soul, like in “Coming Through” (Cat Power lends her vocals for this one).
The album will be officially dropped September 10 on XL Recordings, but Beal and his band are playing a record release show tonight at Schubas before he starts touring his way through Europe. His live performance is certainly worth the few bucks—we’ve only seen him play solo, but it always was theatrical and moving. For now, here’s an old video for “Wavering Lines," the opening track of Nobody Knows.
Willis Earl Beal plays tonight, September 6, at Schubas, 3159 N Southport, 7:30 p.m., $12, 21+