Album / Movie Review – Sturgill Simpson’s “Sound & Fury”
Add Sturgill Simpson to the list of things in society that are extremely polarizing, right up there with politics, religion, LeBron James, pumpkin spice, and whatever else people get worked up about, with half the world professing something or someone is utter and unequivocal garbage, while the other half can’t contain their enthusiasm, showering whatever it is with undeserved vociferous praise. Meanwhile the truth of the matter, as with many things, lies somewhere in the middle, especially when it comes to these contentious topics. Yet the middle is the most dangerous space to inhabit of all. It’s lonely, and bereft of allies. Refusing to take a side is tantamount to crossing swords with both, while your assured to be labeled as weak and uncommitted.
If you’re a country music fan, you have every right to be disappointed that Sturgill’s Sound & Fury not only doesn’t include a shred of country musically, in some ways it feels like a rebuke of it. This is not being closed minded. This is being a country music fan. It’s also being a Sturgill Simpson fan. You followed him from his early days with Sunday Valley, or from his first couple of solo records when he was country. You gave your loyalty to this guy, spent money on T-shirts and vinyl recordings, not to mention concert tickets and travel. You believed in him as one who was helping to return country music back to its substance and roots. He spoke out for Merle Haggard. He told the country establishment to kiss off. Now you cue up Sound & Fury, and it just sounds like a bunch of overdriven and electronic noise that you can’t make heads or tails of. You’re heartbroken, and feel betrayed.
Some are arguing that it’s the job of fans to follow their favorite artists no matter where their supposed creativity takes them, and label people selfish for wanting Sturgill or anyone else to make the kind of music that made them a fan in the first place. But it’s not the job of a listener to follow the whims of an artist. It’s an artist’s job to entertain and inspire people. It’s artists who engage in an elective occupation, and enjoy the fruits of those labors if they’re successful. That doesn’t mean artists should be hemmed in by people’s expectations, or the appointed rules of a given genre. They have the freedom do whatever they want. But fans have the freedom to not like it as well, and not be rebuked as closed minded or “purists” just because one of their favorite artists goes in such a dramatically different direction, it’s virtually unrecognizable from previous efforts.
But music is music, and no matter where anyone’s loyalties lie when it comes to genre or taste, we’re all music fans first, or at least we should be. Sturgill Simpson has been broadcasting for years leading to the release of Sound & Fury that it wouldn’t be a country record. There’s nothing wrong with music that isn’t country. There something wrong with calling something country when it clearly isn’t. Sturgill Simpson was bored with country and doesn’t want to be a karaoke machine playing the same songs the same way. This is completely understandable, yet still a somewhat selfish attitude. Look how many artists and performers spend decades playing the same songs, and not complaining about it because they know it’s a privilege to play music at all, especially at the level Sturgill Simpson enjoys. The people going to work every day in cubicle farms and factories don’t get to follow whatever fancy floats in their head.
The ultimate problem with Sound & Fury is not that it isn’t country. It’s that it just doesn’t sound good. Forget the hip approach in East Nashville and elsewhere to make records sound like they’re recorded on antiquated equipment under the misguided theory this instills them with the same soul of all those old classic titles. The reason older records sound so bad is because they didn’t have better recording options. As soon as they did, they took advantage of them. Even the sweaty sound of something like Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones was more an accident of approach than a decision on aesthetics.
Sound & Fury takes the concern for the sound quality of contemporary recordings to an entirely new level. It’s ragged out and overblown to the point of nearing the cusp of being unlistenable, and crosses over that line in segments. Most country fans listen to rock as well, but not rock that sounds like this. You have to be into fey indie rock—projects like Alvvays or something—to find this level of degraded audio quality on purpose.
And those that would take this assessment of the sound of Sound & Fury as unfair and biting, they might be missing the underlying point and expression at the heart of this album, not vice versa. Sound & Fury is a fuck off record. It was made in a motor inn in Michigan of all places (no offense, Michigan). It’s 36 hours of wanking off into inferior equipment (or what sounds like it), then mixed and mastered to sound even more like shit. Part of this is to attempt to capture the rawness of the emotions and the performances, and present a dystopian aesthetic. But arguably Sturgill Simpson wanted to tick off certain demographics of listeners with this record, and so he baked his intentions right into the recordings. Those pissed off by Sound & Fury shouldn’t be rebuked. Perhaps they’re doing their job, and reacting just as Sturgill Simpson had preordained them to.
What is Sound & Fury, ultimately? It’s a classic breakup record. Except Sturgill’s breakup isn’t with a wife or girlfriend. It’s with the music industry. As the last album Sturgill Simpson was contractually obligated to make, he turned in a discordant and serrated piece of noise on purpose. Jilted, deceived, lied to and used-feeling, Sturgill Simpson is flipping the proverbial bird to it all in Sound & Fury. Like he says in the single from the record, “You’ve done me wrong, so here’s your song. Now sing along.”
So the next question when taking into consideration Sturgill Simpson’s modus operandi here is if the poor audio quality can somehow be forgiven, or even proffered up as a brilliant stroke of performance art? For some, perhaps it can be. But for those who appreciate the art of music for many of its aesthetically-pleasing qualities, it’s very difficult. The dystopian approach is overdone, and by a decisive margin. Even if you don’t mind how Sound & Fury sounds, or even if you enjoy it, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be better with cleaner signals.
Criticizing music is not a completely subjective practice. There are certain established benchmarks and gradients that can be used to asses the quality of a given piece of music beyond the intangibles that reviewers and general listeners call upon that align more with taste. What is the quality of the recordings, and of the mixing and mastering? How is the instrumentation and composition, and the songwriting? Sturgill Simpson is a great guitar player, and is toting around a band of brilliant musicians. But for most of Sound & Fury, they’re resigned to playing simple arrangements that are more about intimidating you with muscle as opposed to wowing you with musicality. Even though the music is raw and harsh, some of the melodies are quite simple, and certain synthesizer parts feel pretty cliché and rehashed-sounding. “A Good Look” sounds like a disco song, like Sturgill Simpson’s version on “High Horse” by Kacey Musgraves. Though again, maybe this is the intention.
What impresses you at nearly every turn in the record is the writing. Sturgill could bring himself to turning in something that sounded harsh and unforgiving, but he wasn’t going to slack on the message he had to deliver. That is the underlying point of it all. Not since the most potent moments of Sturgill’s Magnum Opus, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, has his writing felt so inspired. The best Sturgill Simpson is an angry Sturgill Simpson. Usually this is born out in the raw abandon of his guitar playing. But sensing astutely that the days of the guitar Gods have long passed and we now live in the era of the song, this is where Sturgill channeled his anger, and lays waste one track after another to the rabid hypocrisy, back biting, and other scandalous practices that permeate the music industry from stem to stern. With all do respect to the sweet sentiments Sturgill penned to his son in the Grammy-winning A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, it is in this latest work where he achieves, or at least renews his poetic apex.
But what good is this achievement if you can’t hear what he’s saying, either due to the flatly inferior quality of the audio signals that render the words indecipherable for the majority of the record, or if the folks most needing to heed these messages aren’t paying attention because they’re turned off with the whole audio approach overall? For years Saving Country Music has been telling the Sturgill Simpson detractors complaining about his voice to find a Q-tip and shut up. But with Sound & Fury, concerns about the incoherence of Sturgill Simpson are completely fair and warranted. These nine tracks (the first is an instrumental) will give Genius a good workout, but folks are encouraged to hunt down the lyrics, especially if they’re skeptical of this effort, because they’re worth it.
And everyone should seek out the companion anime film on Netflix as well, which might be Sound & Fury‘s saving grace. At first it’s a little concerning how the film employs various mediums, making you wonder if it will fail to present a cohesive message. The film follows the album exactly, and each song plays out like a vignette in the movie. Some of segments are done in more artistic versions of anime. Others are done in more realistic CGI, and even in live film, not animation at all. Where Sound & Fury the album lacks an amount of contrast and color due to the caustic nature of the recordings, the movie re-instills these elements through its visuals, and at times its stunning imagination. Where the album took days to make, the movie took over a year, and is the reason Sound & Fury was delayed so long before the official release.
The album and the film were not a collaborative effort in the traditional sense. Sturgill did not write Sound & Fury to turn it into an anime film initially. He approached an anime artist to perhaps make a video or two, and the idea to make an entire film was hatched. This put an especially difficult onus on the filmmakers to do justice to this Grammy-winning American’s highly-anticipated album. Though a country music critic is probably ill equipped to critique an anime effort, it felt highly-enjoyable and involved, with the way the ending played out (no spoilers) worth sticking through the whole thing, and a dedicated appearance of a futuristic Nashville a good Easter egg to watch out for. About the only weird part was during the aforementioned song “A Good Look,” where the hero of the film—a sports car-driving Samurai—dances in pop choreography with her enemies. It felt out-of-place in an otherwise engrossing visual work, with the rebuke of the shallowness of the music industry palpable, but poorly placed in the plot.
The ultimate assessment of a country music critic attempting to asses the validity and appeal of a crunchy and loud rock record and accompanying animated film is very mixed. Undoubtedly the writing of Sound & Fury is worthy of praise, especially from an outlet founded to expose the ills of the music industry as a cornerstone of its mission. It’s also important to note that the more you listen, the more you begin to crave the attitude and energy that Sound & Fury affords. Perhaps this is a musical version of Stockholm Syndrome, but subsequent listens are advised, especially among the most skeptical.
And for those hung up on the fact that Sound & Fury isn’t country, they’re missing something important here. Multiple tracks on the album are country songs, just with a different sonic treatment. This is especially true for “Last Man Standing” and “Mercury in Retrograde,” but really you could say this about most of the songs on Sound & Fury. Sturgill Simpson once said he could never sing anything but a country song, because that’s what comes out when he opens his mouth. Even when he purposely tried to make something else with Sound & Fury, his country roots still poked out for those attentive enough to listen for them. So the next question is, why didn’t he just make a country record? Would the songs be presented better in that context, and reach more people? The assessment of this set of ears is, “Yes.”
Sturgill Simpson will make another country record. Just like he told us Sound & Fury wouldn’t be one, he’s assured us a future one will be. And don’t be surprised if bluegrass is the aesthetic he chooses, at least at some point. But for now, Sound & Fury it is, and a guy that once carried the torch and hope for a country music revolution has revolutionized himself in a completely different direction and left country to fend for itself.
Doesn’t this feel like the way it has always been for traditional and independent country fans in the modern era? Jamey Johnson gave us great hope, and then quit writing and releasing records. Shooter Jennings carried the promise of the Outlaw spirit from his father, and then delved into electronica on his own in the album Black Ribbons. Hank3 was supposed to be the man to lead country music out of its malaise, and is now going on half a decade in his disappearing act. The Turnpike Troubadours were the group that could finally create mainstream appeal in independent country, and then Evan Felker hit a rough patch and they were put on hiatus. And people wonder why artists like Whitey Morgan and Cody Jinks receive so much undying loyalty. It remains to be seen what heights they will ascend to. But at least their fans will never feel abandoned. That’s why they’d run through a wall for these two men.
But just assessing Sound & Fury against other records released on September 27th, 2019—including HOME by Billy Strings that is a true effort at evolving country forward while still being tethered to its roots, or Jon Pardi’s Heartache Medication that found a way to be stone cold country in the mainstream, or Michaela Anne’s Desert Dove where such love and care went into each individual recording—Sound & Fury just feels haphazard. But at the same time, underneath all the noise of Sound & Fury, there is still something worthy of attention in the poetry Sturgill Simpson sows, while the noise strangely grows on you and gets the blood pumping, especially with the aid of the accompanying film.
Like so many of the impassioned issues that roil society in the present day, we’re often too emotionally attached to them to give an accurate assessment in the here and now of their overall efficacy. Only time will bear out if our enthusiasm or hatred was warranted, or ill-placed. Strugill Simpson’s Sound & Fury seems especially prone to be worthy of this future re-assessment, and a mixed review is not an attempt to dodge the bullets coming from both sides, but an honest take of a very involved, and frankly, convoluted project.
The man who once found a consensuses among country music’s independent fandom is now as polarizing of a character as any, and so is his new album. Even if Sound & Fury is not perfect for you, it all seems strangely perfect for 2019.
– – – – – – – – – –
One Gun Up for strong songwriting and great vision via the anime film.
One Gun Down for an ill-advised production approach, and an overall poor sound.
October 4, 2019 @ 6:53 pm
I honestly thought there was something wrong with my speakers.
Really liked ‘High Top Mountain’ though.
November 2, 2019 @ 11:59 am
Pretty sure critic spent more time on his review than Sturgill spent on the album. NOW, you can record any album anywhere….case in point, mussel shoals was a old coffin factory that the stones,Duane Allman and countless others painted their prose. ( tons of Waylon & co.s early demos sound better than the final bloated, overproduced, shiny polished product the industry churned out for the masses.) sorry about the rambling kids……this album isn’t a FU to the industry or the fans.
It is simply a rock and roll record. Stripped down, unabashedly loud and raucous, the way it should be.
Hank Sr, Waylon,Jcash and all my heroes would be proud. For all we know, this album could have been recorded at Bear creek in woodinville Wa. Who cares?
This album will stand the test of time, pull in a new audience, and have a legacy that future generations of musicians of all genres will refence. It’s a ton of fun.dont look now, the future is here.
Remember kids…. it’s only rock n roll.
October 4, 2019 @ 6:58 pm
Trigger is very direct in the review: it’s not a country record and Simpson is doing something different. So, I don’t understand the comments that criticize him for comparing this record to Simpson’s country records. I would say, thought, that since the blog is called Saving Country Music, and this is basically a Black Keys record (not a country band), I wouldn’t have wasted the space with a review and instead reviewed a country record. Of course, now I’ve just added one more comment about what should have been done…
Personally, what I’ve heard hasn’t floated my boat and that’s not because Simpson has started making records that fit better with another genre; rather, the songs just aren’t that interesting to me personally. But neither are the Black Keys.
October 6, 2019 @ 12:50 pm
Totally agree with you. I think Simpson may have got fed up with the direction of country music and lack of support so decided to say stuff it, I’m gonna go do my own thing cause I can. And he should be allowed to evolve musically like any artist should. They are artists it’s in their blood to express themselves artistically and that means that as a fan you cannot stifle someone’s artistic expression because you want them to do what you want, make the kind of music you want. Imagine telling Picasso or van Gogh they could only paint landscapes or fruit, then we wouldn’t have half the incredible art we have. I leave manufactured music off this because it’s not really artistic expression, more money making machines for greedy record companies. But real musical artists should be allowed to evolve musically, and if you are a fan you should be able to appreciate this.
October 4, 2019 @ 9:09 pm
Love it, Sturgill is awesome I have loved every album he has put out. I love music from Zep to the beatles, to Merl, Sturgill is the man. Great work man.
October 5, 2019 @ 1:23 am
He’s a Mustang, all right; pigeon hole at your peril.
October 5, 2019 @ 5:28 am
He should have released this under another name.
Thank god we live in a streaming world. Had I bought this on CD I would have felt swindled.
October 14, 2019 @ 5:16 pm
You would have felt swindled for buying a great album? Do you get upset because Beck albums sound completely different from one another too?
October 5, 2019 @ 7:41 am
Everyone of his albums sounds different from each other. I love them all for different reasons. I hopped on on sailors guide which I think is still the best. I think the new album is awesome and just enjoy the ride. There is country on it. Your just not listening. Anyways isn’t country or rock just attitude anyways? My view
October 5, 2019 @ 7:54 am
“There is country on it. Your just not listening.”
I agree. Unfortunately though, Strugill didn’t make it easy to find.
October 5, 2019 @ 7:59 am
Solid review, I just disagree. It might be that my love has blinded me on Sturgill. I love everything he puts out. Stoked for the new tour and hope he hits Seattle again. ????
October 5, 2019 @ 1:59 pm
Divish?
October 5, 2019 @ 8:06 am
Wow, it’s like you took the thoughts out of my head and wrote them down way more coherently than I could have. Once I heard the album I knew why ‘Sing Along’ was the single. It’s the only song where singing along is possible! I didn’t go in expecting country or really with any expectations but I figured a noted singer would strive for some clarity in the vocals even if the overall aesthetic is more distorted. And not only did the synths seem derivative to the point of reminding me of other songs, one of the drum beats is the same damn time as the blinker in my truck! That one’s a personal problem, I know.
I also enjoyed ‘Mercury In Retrograde’ and ‘Last Man Standing’. I’ll take your advice and look up the lyrics because listening multiple times hasn’t enlightened me much. So far I like it more as background music because when I pay attention I just get a bit frustrated.
Maybe I should try the film, I’ve got Netflix and a stepson capable of teaching me about anime.
October 5, 2019 @ 4:40 pm
Netflix with closed caption on is the way to go. Although, at a few points the closed caption just says “unintelligible lyrics”, which I thought was pretty funny.
October 5, 2019 @ 8:15 am
I wrote a comment under the recent Sturgill Simpson/Tyler Childers article that I was relieved to find that I liked this album. I had reservations. I thought “Sing Along” was good but can’t say I loved it. Wasn’t sure about this anime connection. I haven’t watched anime since I watched Speed Racer as a kid and it’s not something I’m into. Thought I wouldn’t pre-order this on and just wait to hear it first. Then I said screw it and pre-ordered it. If I got burned, then I wouldn’t preorder the next one.
I’ve listened to it several times now. I keep listening because I want to hear it. And that’s because I really enjoy it. I think at its best, it’s an exhilirating rock experience. Maybe I’d enjoy it more if the sound was cleaner (e.g, like on Last Man Standing, but it’s short song), but then again, I really like Fastest Horse in Town, which is pretty damn fuzzed out. I personally think this album is a more interesting listen than ASGTE, which I liked but never quite fell in love with, except for Sea Stories and maybe Between The Lines.
October 5, 2019 @ 1:20 pm
So proceeds from this record are going to families of KIA Special Forces? On Joe Rogan:
https://youtu.be/p2G7buZ2JSg
Good on Sturgill. For real.
October 5, 2019 @ 6:04 pm
Probably one of the best sonic middle fingers since Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music.
October 6, 2019 @ 4:18 pm
This album is phenomenal. Whether something is shoved up the anus of a genre is irrelevant, and anyone who judges a piece by whether or not it fits in a genre is not suited to judging works inside, let alone outside, of said genre.
The sounds is fantastic, the theme is decidedly country in ways few country albums today are, and if you disagree with that, that’s your prerogative, you’re allowed to be wrong. It’s like magazine articles about the internet from the early 90’s talking about how it won’t go anywhere. You may write an article on it, but history will have its own say.
And you’re on the wrong side here.
October 6, 2019 @ 5:05 pm
“Whether something is shoved up the anus of a genre is irrelevant, and anyone who judges a piece by whether or not it fits in a genre is not suited to judging works inside, let alone outside, of said genre.”
Read the review, Ross.
Clearly you didn’t, because you would have also read when I said,
“And for those hung up on the fact that Sound & Fury isn’t country, they’re missing something important here. Multiple tracks on the album are country songs, just with a different sonic treatment. This is especially true for “Last Man Standing” and “Mercury in Retrograde,” but really you could say this about most of the songs on Sound & Fury. Sturgill Simpson once said he could never sing anything but a country song, because that’s what comes out when he opens his mouth. Even when he purposely tried to make something else with Sound & Fury, his country roots still poked out for those attentive enough to listen for them.”
If you’re going to come here running everyone down, you might first want to read up on what’s being argued.
October 6, 2019 @ 4:39 pm
Anyone at NYC show tonight?
October 6, 2019 @ 4:56 pm
This album is fucking phenomenal. People are allowed their…subjectivities on music, that’s what it’s all about after all, but the album objectively sounds good, and the theme is decidedly country.
This album should be considered a test of one’s taste and appreciation of music. Disliking something is fine, but when you dislike something because it fails to fall in line with your narrow, tired expectations of what someone else should create, especially in regards to a genre or even their own work, then you allowed yourself to grow old, captive, and boring. If this is you, know this: you are irrelevant, and the things you surround yourself with for comfort will die.
People are going to continue pushing boundaries, particularly in a tepid genre like country, and with it grow their audiences to people like me, who had long since given up on country music as being Luke Bryan trash for bored housewives and closeted bros.
If country music is to survive, people like Simpson and albums like S&F aren’t aberrations, their the fucking heralds of a new era, and necessary for showing how diverse it can be.
Just a shame so many “country” fans appear to have serious hearing issues.
October 6, 2019 @ 11:47 pm
I’m not clear on why were referring to this record as ‘country’ when even SS isn’t .
its no more country than keith urban or fgl is country . unless you’d consider all three of those acts an ‘evolution’ of country music ….whatever the hell THAT even means .
the other day someone said to me ‘ today’s Country music doesn’t suck ….. country radio sucks ‘. and that was right .
this isn’t a country record ….and I don’t really care . it is what it is ….you like it or you don’t . that’s great ….either way . a friend regularly brings my attention to classical pieces 2-300 years old . as a musician , i appreciate it but i don’t enjoy it .
i know where to find all the COUNTRY music i want …past and present . i could care less that SS didn’t make a country record . i could care less . for me this is just SS experimenting cuz he can . its been shown time and time again that you can find a market for ANYTHING . music or otherwise . its all about hype and promotion …exposure . somehow you’ve gotta get those pet rocks into the stores for people to know they exist and pay for them ….whether your pet rock’s name is keith or sturgill .
October 7, 2019 @ 6:13 am
I would say that by and large, the people unhappy with this album on this thread stuck with Sturgill through his last album (A Sailor’s Guide to Earth), which was a much less country album than his previous two albums. A lot of them were saying the same things you’re saying now to the people unhappy with THAT album. The people that want predominantly country albums from Sturgill seem to be ignoring this new album. They have moved on.
I heard Wynton Marsalis that there’s always great music being made but the problem is what’s being sold to us. That has been true for country music, too. Luke Bryan is an example of what’s being peddled to us. Most of us around here ain’t buying and instead search out the good stuff. And that’s why we’re here.
October 6, 2019 @ 7:46 pm
Just saw the NYC show. Definitely a rock show. They even call it a rock show. There’s no country to this show and that’s fine. He played the entire new album as well as old but with more of a rock sound. Two straight hours of jam. Lots of guitar. He gave 120%.
October 7, 2019 @ 6:45 am
How many Metamodern songs made it into the mix?
October 7, 2019 @ 8:03 am
The Promise. Turtles all the way down. It ain’t all flowers. That may be it. Setlist online I’m sure.
October 7, 2019 @ 8:23 am
For those freaked out about the album, it should be noted that he didn’t play much differently than he did for the last run of festivals, except that he mostly played a Les Paul. I brought earplugs just in case but didn’t need them. No weird or buried vocal treatments. The whole band sounded superb as always. Now for those who didn’t like the festival run, can’t help you there.
October 7, 2019 @ 12:30 pm
I just watched the anime clip included here. The music certainly isn’t country, more indie techno-sounding. The vocals do seem a bit too buried in the mix however. But musically it’s not bad for what it is, or in this case isn’t. I’m no anime fan, but that wasn’t half-bad either, certainly less weird than much Japanese anime….
October 9, 2019 @ 8:33 am
Sturgill Simpson – 290 comments and still counting. Love him (and I do) or hate him, he seemingly can’t be ignored.
October 10, 2019 @ 9:11 am
“Criticizing music is not a completely subjective practice.”
Yes it is. Unless you’re talking about song length and statements like “this song has a guitar and drum in it.” Though that’s really only to provide some facts to lay a groudwork for an opinion. “This album is riddled with 10-minute songs. I typically like shorter songs.”
Why don’t people understand the difference between objective and subjective? Is it because critics have to believe that they’re the keys to unlocking this grand mythical mathematical equation of artistic quality? There really is no such thing. I attach credibility to your reviews, because you’ve steered me right so many times. But I often disagree with you, and I ultimately decide what’s good. The fact that you can say Sturgill’s new album sounds bad, and I can disagree makes both perspectives entirely subjective. The term “quality” and “objective” are oxymoronic. If you want to use the term “fidelity”, that’s something that can be measured and is thus objective. However, whether something is high or low fidelity doesn’t make it good or bad, respectively. It’s up to the listener to decide that.
October 10, 2019 @ 9:49 am
I feel that quote is better served in context.
“Criticizing music is not a completely subjective practice. There are certain established benchmarks and gradients that can be used to asses the quality of a given piece of music beyond the intangibles that reviewers and general listeners call upon that align more with taste. What is the quality of the recordings, and of the mixing and mastering? How is the instrumentation and composition, and the songwriting?”
I understand that artists can degrade the “quality” of recordings as an artistic enterprise, and regularly review records based on this practice. But as I said in the review, my judgement call came down to if the recordings were degraded too much, and if the songs could have benefited from clearer signals. But it is NOT a judgement call that the recordings were degraded. Also, many seem to agree with me that the album just sounds bad, so I don’t feel like I was going out on a limb with that judgement call.
“Is it because critics have to believe that they’re the keys to unlocking this grand mythical mathematical equation of artistic quality?”
I can’t speak for all critics, but I don’t feel that way at all. I believe everyone’s opinion on music is valid, and that’s why I host a robust comments section where people can share their own thoughts. I only claim to represent my own feelings.
October 10, 2019 @ 6:33 pm
Just a late-comer to Sturgill Simpson and his iconoclastic approach to art. I say this: Rock on, Sturgill. The future belongs to the pioneers. Challenge the status quo. You have talent, you have a great voice, you are a great songwriter. I’ll keep listening.
October 28, 2019 @ 11:10 am
After taking a while to get over the disappointment of Sturgill not releasing a “country” album, I have taken the time to listen to Sound & Fury. I know Sturgill has stated for some time that his next album would not be country, but I keep wondering “what if” Meta would have been followed by a honky tonk album similar to High Mountaintop. Maybe I was being selfish, but Sound & Fury is an enjoyable album with a lot of complexity that is inspiring. Apologies for to Sturgill for not trusting you in your artistic direction. Keep up the great work!!
October 29, 2019 @ 10:28 pm
Absolutely the most clever anti-industry album I have heard since some of Waylon’s stuff.
The “Sound” is high energy and intense. The “Fury” is Sturgill’s lyrics that crush the music industry. Just genius to hide all that behind over distortion, and make people actually think and work a bit to understand it vs. just vomiting it out in the first 15 seconds because that is our attention span.
Anyone that hasn’t, look up his lyrics and read them. Straight outta the playbook of a music outlaw. “Make Art Not Friends” My goodness….’80s pop with a razor sharp shiv of lyrics into the side of the music industry.
The music is perfect to steam roll right over anything out of Nashville in the last 20 years. It is everything but that garbage popsicle music.
However, I’m not sure if I should call the cops or lock my doors on “Remember to Breathe”, but I get the bit on it.
And I do feel like I’m in an Amsterdam disco for most of the album, but it is brilliant.
November 22, 2019 @ 3:33 am
It’s country musics “Dark side of the moon” and I love it.
January 3, 2020 @ 10:26 am
This is one of the most tone deaf and myopic album reviews I’ve ever read. The author not only got it wrong (the album doesn’t sound like ‘shit’, maybe he/she needs a better sound system), but completely missed the point. Sturgill owes no loyalty whatsoever to country music fans or keeping his sound true to what they expect. He is a brilliant artist that’s stepped outside of the norms from where he started, and he should be commended for that. Country music needs more artists like him and Ryan Bingham, and less of the mainstream crap that dominates the radio. Sturgill hit a home run with Sound and Fury, period.