Hey, what’s up, Chicago? What’s in the news lately? Hmm… Weather, schmeather! Drumpf Tower, Scmumpf Tower! And Blackhawks, Schmack-hawks! I’ve got better, cooler, weirder, sexier, and more charismatic news to share with you, so listen up.
FIRST OF ALL, you may or may not know that your very own home-grown artist, poet, world-traveler, and “outsider musician”-extraordinaire Willis Earl Beal just released a surprise eight song digital-only EP via the Tender Loving Empire label entitled Through The Dark (which you can order right now for name-your-price-dollars and which includes an “exclusive original poem” by Beal and a 5% donation “to charity”) at the beginning of April. True to form, the album “was recorded with an unknown producer that Willis literally met on the street” and its narrative and emotional thrust continue the saga of Beal’s own mysterious “journey through the darkness to the unknown ending light.” So yeah: surprise! Get on THAT, when you can.
But SECOND OF ALL (and more immediately pertinent to this timely piece of award-winning journalism you’re reading right now), Beal has also created a brand new music video created for the album’s titular track! As you might guess, the clip for “Through The Dark” is a pretty sad and beautiful affair, pitting director E.E. Greer’s various soft-focus camera shots of a stalwart homeless man named “Cameron” navigating the underbelly of downtown Portland, OR against runs of tinkling, moonlight-piano and Beal’s beefy-but-fork-tender nightcroon. “Willis Earl Beal has known many lives,” Greer says in a statement about the video, “writing songs that open doors to each of them, and this night, Cameron took us through the dark waiting on the other side.”
I know, I know: Portland, Oregon is not Chicago. And neither is this upcoming list of Beal’s European summer festival appearances. But just try to get OVER all your sports and politics and weather shit for a second and watch this haunting little thing. It’ll do you some good. Promise. <3
Willis Earl Beal upcoming dates:
07.29.16 - Taz Festival - Oostende, Belgium
07.30.16 - M-idzomer Festival - Leuven, Belgium
07.31.16 - Obonjan Festival - Obonjan, Croatia
08.05.16 - OFF Festival - Katowice, Poland
08.07.16 - Ypsigrock Festival - Castelbuono, Italy
08.09.16 - The Forge - London, UK
08.10.16 - The Globe - Cardiff, UK
08.11.16 - Edinburgh Fringe Festival - Edinburgh, UK
More about: Willis Earl Beal
