In 2024, I reviewed Passage du Desir and gave it one of Paste’s highest scores ever. Two years later, it holds up—better than ever, actually. Not to mention, the tape landed at #5 on our AOTY list. I wrote: “The tomes of peace and clarity that sustain Passage Du Desir sound a lot like a kind of closure that isn’t so finite. The record arrives on the same spiritual plane as A Sailor’s Guide to Earth did eight years ago—even if Simpson’s name has changed. Gone now are the odes to psilocybin and weed, horns and Bakersfield stylings of old, as he’s opted for bluesy guitar-playing, ornate set dressings and rock ballad pianos quaking through intervals of timelessness. It’s, all at once, a stroke of outlaw country genius and a massive, psychedelic vacuum of singer-songwriter reckonings and pensive, concerto swells.”
Simpson’s got a good thing going as Johnny Blue Skies, and he and his backing band, The Dark Clouds, are planning to kick up the dust again next month—this time on the dancefloor. On March 13 via Atlantic Outpost, Mutiny After Midnight will hit the shelves but not streaming services. You’ll only be able to hear it on physical formats like vinyl, CD, and cassette, though you could always buy a CD and use it to burn some sweet mp3s. In an official statement posted online, Simpson wrote that he and his bandmates wanted to “make an album centered firmly on groove,” as retaliation towards America’s current political turmoil. (Which turmoil, you may ask? I don’t know man, take your pick. It’s all bad.) “The mutiny is really more about the primary dance,” he continued. “The dance of all creation. To be clear it is a protest against oppression and suppression, and the only tried & tested true antidote to that is pure, unfiltered, unapologetic, relentless disco-hedonism.”
Do I think that Sturgill Simpson is going to actually make a disco record? Not exactly. I think it’ll be a boogie barn-burner filled in with some of that drugged-out, slice-of-life prose of his. Maybe some Jerry Jeff Walker, “Jaded Lover”-type stomps. The opening Mutiny After Midnight track is called “Make American Fuk Again,” and check out a few of the lyrics:
“Been learning lessons and getting bubbles busted
Learning how to turn ADHD into hyper-focus
Getting my heart broke by people I trusted
Weaponizing my autism to shit out an opus
Been coming to terms with my obsolescence
Taking ketamine to kill my depression
It beats being fogged out on anti-depressants
Wait, that reminds me, time to book another session…
Maybe things have been worse but I can’t remember when
Wanna start a revolution and watch it begin”
Check out the Mutiny After Midnight artwork and tracklist below.
1. Make America Fuk Again
2. Excited Delirium
3. Don’t Let Go
4. Stay on That
5. Viridescent
6. Venus
7. Everyone is Welcome
8. Ain’t That a Bitch
