Sturgill Simpson is doing his best to keep his word. The singer-songwriter, who is categorized as country, rock, outlaw or bluegrass depending on the day and record, once claimed he would never release more than five albums under the name Sturgill Simpson, and released his 2021 album, The “Ballad of”. Dood & Juanita as his swan song. (He doesn’t account for “Cuttin’ Grass,” a two-part project that reimagines other songs in his repertoire in a bluegrass style.)
In the years since the release of “Dood & Juanita,” the artist has become completely interested in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” as well as the sci-fi adventure “The Creator.” I have accepted other aspects. But like many artists, Sturgill Simpson realized he had more stories to share. This is where Johnny Blue Skies comes into play. That’s his loophole. And this is an increasingly acceptable album for him, as his first album under this new name is released today, July 12th.
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Passage Du Desir is the first project of this fresh alter ego. This is a reintroduction, but it’s not. Because from the jump, this LP feels like a warm, natural continuation of the artistic identity Simpson established throughout his previous albums. He tends to come across as pleasantly vulnerable and consistently insists he ignores Music Row trends. Johnny Blue Skies may technically be new to the scene, but we know he’s the same guy who busked outside the CMA Awards in 2017.
Although some of these song titles sound dark, and the album opens with “Swamp of Sorrow” and “If the Sun Never Rises Again,” one of the stronger emotions that runs through Passage du Desir is a feeling of hope. The balance between life’s hardships and the promise of better days is an area Simpson has pioneered in the past. After all, one of his first hits was titled “Life Ain’t Fair and the World Is Mean.”
“Some nights I want to die/But the morning comes,” he sings on the breezy “Who I Am,” balancing realism and relief at the same time. “Put another bandaid on this bullet wound/Pour us another cup of mint tea/Sit by me under the moon,” he requests on “Mint Tea.” This is part of a chorus that acknowledges the ghosts of the past while relying on them. About love to move forward. The latter is the sentiment that defined his groundbreaking 2014 LP, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. A decade after asserting the power of love as the only reliable weapon against the plagues of everyday life, he intermittently reaffirms his position through Passages du Désir.
There are also moments of humor, primarily in “Scooter Blues,” where he expresses his desire to escape to a beach town, abandon his current life, and fully embrace anonymity. “Smoking coconuts, playing checkers, and lying on the beach until all my freckles connect,” he daydreams. “When you go up to heaven, they don’t ask your name/And I thank God/I couldn’t tell her if I had to,” he says in “Who I In “Am,” he confesses that all the treatments will have an effect on his life before he worries it’s too late.
