Ambient crooner Willis Earl Beal keeps it sweet and soulful
“I have an old-time soul voice from the choir— that’s all it is.” Willis Earl Beal is talking about his singing style. It’s a mix of grit and sweetness that’s equal parts church, smoky nightclub and busy street corner. On Noctunes, his latest album, it’s the honeyed tones of a soul crooner that dominate the soundscape, as he paints moving portraits of lovers wandering through the desolate wilderness of heartache, proud of their anguish and the tears running down their cheeks.
“This is a break-up record,” says Beal. “It was recorded at night, toward the end of my marriage, and the songs reflect that. I couldn’t go to bed without thinking that my wife was going to leave me. While she was sleeping, I was up writing songs. I’d sing them quietly into a Tascam DP-03 that literally had bugs in it. They’d make it cut o in the middle of mixing a track, but the limitations made me keep things as minimal as possible, which is what I wanted. It’s just synth strings, a little bass guitar and a lot of layered vocal harmonies. The album is about trying to come out of the night and into the light of morning.”
The songs on Noctunes are subtle, soulful lullabies, with Beal’s whispered vocals full of quiet emotion so raw and naked that they take your breath away. “It’s a small record that sounds large,” says Beal. “All it takes is sincerity. Once sincerity is guiding you, you know what tones work and what tones don’t. They have shape and color, and that puts you in tune with what you want to express. Making music is therapeutic and helps me enter into my feelings, instead of just hovering above them. I want the songs to be sensitive without being obvious or over the top.”
—j. poet
