If You Get Confused #021: Passage Du Desir (Album Review)
Sturgill Simpson becomes Johnny Blue Skies
I’ve been a Sturgill Simpson fan for a number of years, and thought I may heard that last of his music. A few years ago, he suffered a rupture to his vocal cord that prevented him from singing (even from talking for a while). I thought that was probably the end to his career as a musician.
In a way I was right. Because according to his new album, Sturgill Simpson is no more. Enter Johnny Blue Skies - his new moniker.
The story is covered in this excellent GQ article, which I highly recommend reading in full. But to make a long story short, Sturgill suffered from an identity crisis after the vocal incident, and was struggling to find himself. He disconnected from his life and spent time in Thailand and France in search of answers. However, as the article reveals, “Simpson doesn’t claim to have found any answers. Instead he accepts that he doesn’t have any. That’s enlightenment of a certain kind.”
This album is the product of that journey. And “Johnny Blue Skies” is Sturgill’s way of separating the person he used to be with who he is now. The songs range from covering the identity crisis head on (“Who I Am”), his time in France (“Swamp of Sadness”), and Thailand (“Scooter Blues”). He also covers some very heavy subjects of loss and relationships in “Jupiter’s Faerie” and “One For The Road.”
The album is, in my opinion, his best work. Each song is so heavy and raw that you can feel the emotion in every line. He doesn’t try to fit the mold of a traditional “country” album, but tell his stories in the way he thinks they are best told. My two favorite songs, “Jupiter’s Faerie” and “One For the Road”, are the two saddest songs on the album and stretch over 7 minutes each, which feels rare for ballads like this. But there’s nothing lost in any song, it’s all done with so much purpose, even “One For the Road’s” ~4 minute instrumental.
But the song I’ve listened to the most from the album as been “Mint Tea”. I interpret this be about a turbulent toxic relationship that’s left both partners with a lot of “bullet wounds”. But at the end of the day, they keep going back to each other because that’s what makes the most sense to them. The below verse + chorus sums up the relationship perfectly. It’s one where they keep hurting each other, but it seems there’s no repercussions because “you’re still gonna love me anyway”:
Words get in the way, but actions follow through
You don't wanna hurt me, and I ain't gonna hurt you
Even if I do, you know I won't mean to
And you're still gonna love me anyway
So put another band-aid on this bullet wound
Pour us both another cup of that mint tea
Sit down by my side underneath the moon
Tell me why you're so afraid of little old me
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the track that follows “Mint Tea” on the album is “One For the Road”, which is clearly a breakup song. The narrator is taking full blame for not being the same person, and “blowing out the flame” of the relationship. I can’t help but think that the characters in “Mint Tea” and “One For The Road” are the same.
Our love was a garden
But it seems some weeds have grown
All the flowers have wilted
And the seeds have all been sewn
So before we go, here's one for the road
To close, I wanted to share my favorite quote from the GQ, that I think plays well into the theme from the last edition of this newsletter. It also a gentle reminder to myself as that sometimes there’s no escaping painful situations, but there are ways to leverage that for your own benefit. And in any circumstance “perception is what you make of it”:
“People find what they need to and what they’re supposed to. I don’t need to lead them there. I am riding a different wave…Every place you go, especially the old places, perception is what you make of it, but there are, also, shall we say, portals of perception. I’m not talking about drugs or any intrinsic, entheogenic bullshit. I’m nowhere near what they would call enlightenment or reaching the boundaries, so we’re stuck here for a while in the physical realm, and we’re here to feel, whether that be pleasure, pain, suffering, what have you, but we’re here. Whether you like it or not. So pain is a tool. Neurodivergence is a tool. And I’ve learned how to embrace these things as creative tools and not feel bad about them.
I only pray to Marvin Gaye, so let’s get it on.”
What a legend.