Album Review: Sturgill Simpson, SOUND & FURY

When Simpson broke through with his second solo album, 2014’s great Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, it seemed he was here to re-inject some outlaw into a genre that the music city conveyor belt of trucks and hats tunes had scrubbed clean. He had no interest in standing still though, incorporating a distinct Southern soul influence and even covering Nirvana on the Grammy-winning letter-to-his-son concept album follow-up, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth.

He gleefully drives the Trans Am right off the Nashville reservation here though. What we get are old-fashioned, analogue sounding synths and plenty of fuzzed-out guitars. Imagine Eliminator-era ZZ Top or The Cars, produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, and you’d be nearly there.

The album is paired with a Simpson-penned anime Netflix movie, which might explain titles like opening instrumental ‘Ronin’. The urban blues of ‘Remember To Breathe’ finds Simpson “staying off the radar, like a bomber on the run” until the screaming guitar gives away his position, and the near-disco boogie of ‘A Good Look’ is a co-write with John Prine, but you wouldn’t guess that in a thousand years. Tracks like ‘Fastest Horse In Town’ are just a little too far out there, but stick with this record and songs start to emerge.

‘All Said And Done’ mines a similar seam to The Black Keys’ more introspective moments, and ‘Make Art Not Friends’ – a title that perfectly sums Simpson’s intentions - the music business-berating ‘Mercury In Retrograde’, and the ELO-on-meth shuffle of ‘Last Man Standing’ could have, with more traditional arrangements, fitted on those earlier records.

I doubt this is ever going to be my favourite Simpson record – and I love the guy - but you’ve got to applaud an artist who follows his muse as resolutely as this and refuses to be corralled.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2ITJBRqMwZ0luWBnnZQ4Hq?si=oYh9R6FxQ7ip5FOFLMJT-Q