Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury

Sturgill Simpson handled the Grammy-winning success of 2016's A Sailor's Guide to Earth the same way he handled everything else in his career: with an ornery turn to the left. He holed up with his touring band in Waterford, Michigan and recorded a gnarled, angry collection of space age Southern rockers, then commissioned a fleet of Japanese animators to create an accompanying anime film, naming the whole shebang after a line from Macbeth. Every element of Sound & Fury telegraphs that Simpson will not be contained by the conventional definitions of country, whether it's mainstream, Americana, or old-fashioned outlaw. Make no mistake, Simpson still trades upon stylish vintage vibes, dressing large portions of Sound & Fury in wheezing analog synths, saturated fuzz guitars, and robotic boogie, but unlike either Metamodern Sounds in Country Music or A Sailor's Guide to Earth, there is no sense that he's attempting to tap into a pure past. Contamination is the guiding principle throu