Last month, an unreleased Lana Del Rey song called “Black Beauty” hit the internet. Nobody knew if it was new or old, but it was among the lovelier things she’s ever done. And now, the Chicago outsider-soul belter Willis Earl Beal, apparently moved by the LDR song, has offered his own “response” to it. Beal has given his song the ungainly title “Black Beauty (A Response To Lana Del Rey From Willis Earl Beal),” and he’s used similar gauzy synth tones and dramatic slow-build singing, as well as a possible LDR single, to make something considerably lovelier than the original. Beal has always sounded something like Tom Waits; now, all of a sudden, he’s Brian McKnight, but in a good way. Listen below.

(via Pitchfork)

This song sadly isn’t on it, but Beal’s new album Nobody knows. is out 9/10 on XL; check out “Everything unwinds.” and “Too Dry To Cry.”