Sturgill Simpson Explains His Creative Approach to “Passage Du Desir”


Depending on who you talk to, Sturgill Simpson’s new album Passage Du Desir is either a serious Album of the Year contender, or a big letdown. Such is the polarizing environment that persists around Sturgill Simpson these days. To read Saving Country Music’s take, CLICK HERE.

On the day the album was released, an interview with Sturgill was posted in GQ, but it seemed more interested in delving into Sturgill’s travel itinerary over the last couple of years as opposed to the musical process, and left more questions than answers.

Some of those questions persist, but sitting down with the French-based digital music store and streaming service Qobuz (think Apple Music for French folks), Sturgill revealed a lot of good information about his approach to the new album, along with a few other interesting tidbits.

We’re used to Sturgill making concept records, and a question a lot of listeners had with Passage Du Desir is if there was a narrative to unravel.

“I tried to make a cohesive record, but it’s certainly not like an arching, underlying, definitive narrative. It’s just a collection of songs,” Sturgill explains. “I had some pretty impactful things happen in my personal life and lost a lot of people and friends that were dear to me. One person in particular was very important in my life, at one point I found out that she killed herself. So I just decided, you know what, I’ve got to get all this stuff on tape and record it. So we made the record. It was really very simple. I wanted the music to be pure without any gimmicks or over-the-top production. So it was just myself and three other very good studio musicians.”

Though some of the songs on the album are most certainly country, some of the songs are not. Sturgill admits in the interview, “In terms of musical style, it’s a little all over the place, but I feel like it’s the most ‘me’ album I’ve ever made. And then when I put all of the electric guitars and things down on the record, there were no pedals, no effects, just a Les Paul [guitar] and an old Fender Princeton [amp]. And we were at Abbey Road, and that was the only thing in the room, was the guitar amp. I just wanted a really pure tone. Nothing in the way.”

Sturgill says that he didn’t really approach Passage Du Desir with a whole lot of purpose. He also admitted in the interview how he can sometimes be contrarian for contrarian’s sake.

“I didn’t think about this one too much,” he says. “I always had like clear cut, almost like a bulletin board roadmap before you go in [to the studio] because you like to record really fast. But with this one, we had these songs, my engineer was available [David “Fergie” Ferguson], so we made a record. Also because there’s something wrong with me. If something works and it’s successful, I just feel like I don’t deserve it, so I run from it. When people say, ‘This is great, we want more of this,’ my brain is like, ‘No, you can’t have it. I do this now.’ It’s a fault.”

Sturgill also blamed the comparisons some make to him and Waylon Jennings on producer Dave Cobb and his production of Simpson’s debut solo album High Top Mountain, saying that Cobb put him in keys where the similarities would come out as much as possible. “I feel like I’ve been running from that record ever since.” Sturgill says, while saying that he never really listened to Waylon until he met Shooter Jennings.

As for his recent acting roles, including in the Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon, Sturgill says, “It was a great way to kill some time, but it’s not something I feel the need to actively pursue. I’m a musician, and I didn’t find it all that creatively rewarding or gratifying.”

You can see the full interview below.







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