It's his second European release this year but Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is actually Simpson's new album – the excellent High Top Mountain was Europe catching up on this maverick American retro twangster with a taste for altered consciousness (Aldous Huxley gets a high five). The ironic title signifies the sort of attitude that places the Kentucky singer-songwriter outside the Nashville set. That attitude infuses the 10 tracks; difficult titans such as George Jones and Kris Kristofferson are recalled in Life of Sin and Turtles All the Way Down while Living the Dream is laced with bitterness. Just Let Go and The Promise show a softer side while A Little Light Within nails the country gospel vote and tape loops and distortion colour a dark It Ain't All Flowers. He ain't kidding.
sturgillsimpson.com
Download: A Little Light Within; Life of Sin