If you won a Grammy Award for the Best Country Album of the Year, you are big in the country music business. Sturgill Simpson did with the previous one. On 27th September 2019, the Kentucky artist released his fourth album, Sound & Fury. I definitely had to have a listen to this selection of songs.
Sturgill Simpson – About The Artist
Sturgill Simpson grew up in Jackson, Kentucky, and the Lexington area. Born in 1978, he made his first steps to music in 2004. After playing in a band first, he made a break from music and worked for a railroad company. Though he re-joined his band again, he moved to Nashville in 2012. He self-funded his first album High Top Mountain, which was released in 2013. The album was quite a success and peaked place in the US Country charts, 11th in the US Heat one. His second album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, which came out some one year later, even had better chart placements. He joined Atlantic Records to release A Sailor’s Guide to Earth in 2016. The album was a massive success, won a Grammy, topped the US Country album charts and made it to #3 in the US overall album charts. Sturgill Simpson mixes a lot of different genres – which you also see by the fact that the first single taken from Sound & Fury, Sing Along, did not list in the US Country, but in the US Rock and Adult Alternative charts.
Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury – Track by Track
Sound & Fury is a ten track album, lasting 41 minutes. It features an anime movie, which you may watch on Netflix.
1. Ronin
Did the Amazon player somehow fail? The first track of the album starts with a very quiet scenery intro. After some 40 seconds, there is music. Finally, Ronin is a very rockin’ instrumental track. Very ambient!
2. Remember To Breathe
Remember To Breathe just links perfectly to Ronin. Does not sound like country at all. Alternative, with a strong, present voice. Electric sounds. Sounds cool.
3. Sing Along
Sing Along was the pre-released single of Sound & Fury. It’s anime-style video quickly went close to the one million views on Youtube. Wow, there are so many sounds in there, very futuristic, electric, but still rocking. The song is overwhelming – in a very good way! Extremely catchy.
4. A Good Look
A Good Luck has much stronger guitar play than the tracks before. The song has speed, it catches. I still cannot really describe what Sound & Fury does to me, but it does good. And it makes me dance. Though I feel all the time that I am not too much a fan of electronic sounds like these.
5. Make Art Not Friends
With close to six minutes, Make Art Not Friends is one of the two very long tracks on the album. I loved the tracks before, but I even like this one better. I feel a touch of Dire Straits, I feel a touch of 80s synthie pop, I feel … so much. Might be wrong, but I feel I like it.
6. Best Clockmaker On Mars
When I looked for some previews of the album I read that the album is like “ZZ Top on LSD”. Had to think about when I listened to that track. Any better suggestion?
7. All Said And Done
All Said And Done is a very melodic, very traditional track. And you feel a lot of country music in here as well. Cool track.
8. Last Man Standing
The shortest track on the album is rock track. Again, there is a lot ZZ Top in it – just without drugs. Cool.
9. Mercury In Retrograde
Mercury in Retrograde is a very remarkable song as well. Less electric stuff, a lot of pop, a good touch of country. Extremely well to listen to.
10. Fastest Horse In Town
To listen to the full story of the Fastest Horse In Town, you at least need to take seven minutes – that’s the duration of the song. The sound is distorted, but it just makes it an even-better-to-listen-to final track on the album with a lot of rock elements in it.
Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury – My View
Is Sound & Fury still country? No idea! It is quite amazing that Sturgill Simpson just cashed in the Grammy with his previous album and now produces this epic piece. I don’t care which genre you assign to it – it’s neither techno nor folk nor polka, definitely – it is just really good stuff. You feel country elements, you feel rock, indie/alternative, there are electric sounds – and the composition is what makes it a great one. No time to relax! Definitely love that sound! Top Pick!
Sturgill Simpson – On Tour
The first tourdates released are for the UK, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Here are the concert dates of Germany and neighboring countries:
Tu 21.01.2020 | Copenhagen (DK), Vega | |
Fr 24.01.2020 | Berlin, Columbia Theater | |
Sa 25.01.2020 | Amsterdam (NL), Melkweg | |
So 26.01.2020 | Hamburg, Grünspan |
Flyctory.com about Country Music
Here are all Country Music-related postings on Flyctory.com: