Sturgill Simpson takes a rock ‘n’ roll voyage on his new album, ‘Sound & Fury’ – Tennessean

, Nashville Tennessean Published 11:45 a.m. CT Sept. 26, 2019 | Updated 2:47 p.m. CT Sept. 26, 2019

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Listeners hungry for Sturgill Simpson’s familiar croon better keep feasting on the old stuff — because the Kentucky songwriter’s new album trades country comfort for all-out helping of rock ‘n’ roll grime. 

On his new album “Sound & Fury,” out Friday, Simpson steps firmly away from the outlaw country sound where some once considered him a torchbearer. Instead, the ventures deep into the underbelly of fuzzy, futuristic guitar rock. 

Simpson recorded “Sound & Fury” at Michigan’s McGuire Motor Inn, working alongside bandmates Bobby Emmett, Chuck Bartels and Miles Miller. John Hill, known for his work with Portugal. The Man and Cage The Elephant, co-produced the album. 

And, if Simpson tapping into a no-nonsense dystopian soundscape wasn’t enough, Simpson teamed with leading names in anime to team the 40-minute stack of new tunes with a Netflix film of the same name. 

How’s the album sound? And what can you expect from the Netflix film? Here’s what we know about “Sound & Fury.”  

‘Sound & Fury,’ the album

Simpson’s 10-track “Sound & Fury” follows the subtle country storytelling of 2016’s “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth,” which earned the major label newcomer international acclaim — including an unexpected nomination for Album of the Year at the 2017 Grammy Awards (he’d fall to Adele, but brought home Best Country Album that year). 

As outlined in a New York Times profile earlier this month, Simpson found “Sound & Fury” by way of Nashville nonconformity, worn-down months on the road (“there was a point in 2017 where I thought I was just going to just go away,” he said) and the immobile weeks after a sinus surgery that led him to rediscover the music of his formidable years. 

In his time recovering from surgery, Simpson told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that he turned to hip-hop, the Cars and Black Sabbath, each influencing the rip-roaring sound that boils with audacity and swagger on “Sound & Fury.” 

A cathartic output, Simpson told the Times he wanted it to hit “like a Wu-Tang record.” From the article

“I could’ve very easily probably made the same record five times by now and just gone right down that middle lane and played it safe, and I’d have $80 million in the bank,” Simpson said, dryly. “And I’d probably be hanging from a [expletive] rope on one of these trees over here by now, you know what I mean? So it’s not worth it.”

The result? A sonic onslaught that explores galaxies between genre. 

Simpson blurs between disco itches and gritty guitar scratches on the album. There’s the groove of instrumental opener, “Ronin;” The slick, funky flair of “A Good Look;” southern-soaked bombast with closer “Fastest Horse In Town;” and an ode to longing, reflective guitar-pop with six-minute album standout “Make Art Not Friends.” 

On the subtly spacey “Mercury In Retrograde,” Simpson sings to the dog-and-pony show that once greeted his rising success: “They come back stage and on my bus, pretending to be my friend/ Shaking hands behind grandstands, wearing the same ‘ole grin.” 

The songs come from “a weird spot,” Simpson told Lowe earlier this year — including his distaste for the industry behind the art. 

“It is a dirty toxic industry,” he said. “And I wanted to express a lot of that.” 

‘Sound & Fury,’ the film 

A 41-minute “Sound & Fury” anime epic debuts Friday via Netflix, putting colorful (and unapologetically violent) context to the album. 

Simpson, a Navy veteran once stationed in Japan, enlisted acclaimed creative Jumpei Mizusaki to direct, with “Afro Samauri” creator Takashi Okazaki serving as character designer.

The film draws blood-soaked lines between good and evil, a tension illuminated by dystopian chemicals and city-sprawling guerrilla warfare.

It took about $1.2 million to produce, the Times reported and follows “hegemonic structures, politics, corruption, greed — you know, things that usually lead to really [expletive] music,” Simpson said. 

“Sound & Fury” hits Netflix and digital and physical music stands Friday. 

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