Track of the Moment- Evening's Kiss by Willis Earl Beal

Willis Earl Beal is a lot of things, a solid singer, a good song writer, a pretty good drawer. Now that’s a lot of adjectives, but even more could be used to describe his music, some of these being elegant, dirty, rustic, comical, and at times silly. Beal switches between different sounds on Acousmatic Sorcery like a supermodel switches clothes after each walk down the runway, quickly and with total abandon, going from one idea to the next. Its not hard to pick out his influences though which seem to be well represented through the fantastic collection of drawings that accompany the album. They include as far as I can tell Tom Waits, David Lynch Tom Waits, Bob Dylan (who adorns the albums cover), Tom Waits and Beck. The song that speaks strongest falls into the Bob Dylan folk camp of songwriting, and that one is called Evening’s Kiss. “Ask me how im feeling” Beal goads in the song, “and Ill say im full of shit and doubt, ask me who im with and ill tell you im without”. Somehow Beal is able to be more than one person on Acousmatic Sorcery, which is impressive. His voice changes more than Dylan’s from track to track, but he remains himself, which is what makes the album so interesting.