And when you consider the older palette of anime that inspires some of the Japanese chord progressions and flute-like tones slipped onto songs like 'Remember To Breathe', and the fact that Sturgill's flair for the retro eschews more programmed and obvious futurism, it's actually a little startling how well on a textural level they all blend together into a strange but seamless composite whole. Critics have pointed towards the 1980s and Stranger Things as an easy parallel, but that's not really the right foundation point: SOUND & FURY owes more to the synthwave scene that erupted across the internet in recent years with the cutting buzzy layers, gated reverb around the percussion pickups, and in some cases, a cushion of eerie, quasi-gothic sampling that seem to call back to the 80s film scores and French House that inspired the genre - more Vangelis or in today's day and age Gunship, if you catch my drift.
And yet to go along with them, he grabbed up thick cushions of burbling, analog synths that have about as much shrill, howling presence as the waves of smoldering guitar feedback and chugging riffs. On the compositional level, many of these songs are rooted in structures that are fundamentally country or southern rock with a splash of Queens of the Stone Age - especially barn-burners like 'Sing Along', 'A Good Look', and 'Last Man Standing' - all with an emphasis on developed, galloping melodic grooves.
And a big part of it feels like it's rooted in this album's focus: where his country and country-adjacent projects prodded at genre barriers, this album divorced from those restraints winds up curdling inwards and just doesn't hit with the same impact - and while it's still a pretty great listen, it doesn't reach the tier of what Simpson has delivered before.īut before we get into that, let's talk about the overall sound of this album, which has left a lot of folks a little baffled where to even start, but strangely does seem to make a certain amount of sense once you squeeze yourself into Simpson's mindset. and yet still feels like Sturgill Simpson's least interesting project to date, especially when you claw your way into the dense, roaring waves of synth rock groove and howling southern rock distortion. You ever have the feeling after listening to a project that it should be more difficult to have a defined opinion on it than you do? Yeah, that's how I've felt with SOUND & FURY, which yes, I will say is a great album that spits in the face of genres and has the swaggering potency to occupy a potent lane. So okay, what did we get with SOUND & FURY? well, it's not like I haven't seen misfires like this before, but Simpson is a great enough writer and producer to stick the landing, and that's not even getting into that anime film he released along side of it which as per usual I'm not going to cover - the album has to stand alone. So when I heard that SOUND & FURY was less indie country and more a curdled blend of fiery southern rock and 80s synth rock. And in his writing especially while his primary reference points in composition seem to have roots in country, his time stationed in Asia sparked a fondness for anime, and that's not even touching on his politics, which are generally left of the dial and aren't that far removed from conspiracy theory territory.Īnd I bring all of this up because while he won a Grammy for A Sailor's Guide to Earth, his contempt and general disinterest in the machinations of the music industry meant that regardless of what his label might want, he was going to make music with little care for marketing or even genre, let alone the possibility of radio play - yes, Nashville was never going to play him anyway, but it seemed like he was going out of his way to give them excuses. He could have easily remained a stalwart in indie country just by retracing the same paths of Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, but A Sailor's Guide To Earth was not that. Sure, I was drawn most initially to his experimentation in country music, where he would stick with that foundational sound before pushing into psychedelia or the Muscle Shoals sound or even alternative or southern rock, but everything he has done in recent years has suggested he'd never stay there, and more to the point was not particularly interested in chasing the easy follow-up. I think at this point it doesn't make sense to have expectations for what Sturgill Simpson makes.