Willis Earl Beal, Lo-fi R&B singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois has released the third single from his upcoming LP, Nocturnes. “Survive” is five minutes of calming instrumentals accompanied by the soothing vocals of Beal, who according to Consequence of Sound sings in a “coo that’s at once wounded and comforting” You can listen to the new song below.
Survive Starts off with a one minute long intro featuring soft, rhythmic and traditional sounding drums, along with some high pitched chimes that do well to set up the stage for Beal’s vocals. Around 55 seconds in, Beal opens with “Principalities of man got you down in the mud
You’re a single grain of sand so you can’t stand out” before serenading us with a few more lines, then leading straight into the chorus. Later on in the song, Beal puts his full soul behind his voice, powerfully stating “If you want to survive, You got to let it go.”
Nocturnes will be Willis Earl Beal’s fifth studio album, following two self-released albums, Experiments in Time, and Experiments in Time: The Golden Hour. Nocturnes will be released under Electric Soul Records/Tender Loving Empire.
In addition to “Survive,” Beal released two other singles off of Nocturnes. “Flying So Low” and “Midnight” are calming songs that are sung straight from the hard, mirroring exactly the type of style that Beal was quoted as saying he desired. “People had all these ideas about what I was supposed to be,” Beal said in a statement. “I had only ever wanted to make lullabies. … I wanted to create this persona that could say everything perfectly with very little. The record, to me, is a perfect record. I listen to that thing a lot, and it helps me.”
Nocturnes was originally released as a 300-copy limited edition in January, but will be made available for all August 28th, 2015.
Noctunes Tracklist:
01. Under You
02. Flying So Low
03. Like a Box
04. Lust
05. No Solution
06. Stay
07. Say the Words
08. Love Is All Around
09. Able to Wait
10. Survive
11. Start Over
12. Midnight