STURGILL SIMPSON - Mutiny After Midnight

Sturgill Simpson is a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary artist. Not only has he revolutionized the ethics and aesthetics of country rock with a series of singular albums, but he's also managed to turn down the seduction of success by upending the rules of communication - first surprise-releasing an album under the name Johnny Blue Skies ("Passage Du Desir"), with no promotion whatsoever and even stripping the cover of any reference to himself, then later taking on the guise of a character created for an even more radical project.

Under the name Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds, Sturgill Simpson released - first exclusively on YouTube (though only temporarily), then in physical format, and finally solely on Apple's platform (leaving out Spotify) - the most militant, impetuous and controversial album of his career.

"Mutiny After Midnight" is a sarcastically revolutionary album. Sturgill Simpson's critique of the current American political establishment (Trump, Maga, Ice, oligarchy and corruption) filters through the mesh of the sexual revolution: it's no coincidence that the whole thing kicks off with "Make America Fuck Again", a track that isn't just an ironic conceptual and cultural juxtaposition, but a deep dive into the last true potential site of social and political rebellion: sex.

Explicit, even blunt lyrics go hand in hand with a powerful, hook-laden rock-country-funky-pop sound; the grooves laid down by the band – Laur Joamets (guitar), Robbie Crowell (keyboards), Kevin Black (bass) and Miles Miller (drums) – are sharp, solid and bold. A track like "Situation" fuses the funk of Chic with the Southern rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd; likewise, MFSB-style orchestral-disco-soul impulses merge with a melody that's still distinctly country on the airy "Everyone Is Welcome": the effect is not just brilliant and fun, but downright irreverent.

For those who champion perfect songcraft above all else, "Don't Let Go" alone (the most country-oriented track here) will do the trick, while the pickiest listeners will find the Earth Wind & Fire-style cadences of "Venus" a serious candidate for the best fusion of funk and country-pop songwriting of the last twenty years; and one can just picture the wry smile on Jeff Lynne's face listening to "Make America Fuck Again" (a mash-up of "Last Train To London" and "Don't Bring Me Down").

It would be a mistake, though, to reduce the appeal of "Mutiny After Midnight" to this successful hybrid of styles (an experiment already attempted with different ingredients on the vibrant "Sound & Fury"). Sturgill Simpson redraws the very meaning of outlaw-music, relocating country music into everyday reality and lending the pop song format a genuinely cross-cutting communicative dignity. In this sense, the seemingly trivial musings on sex are more subversive than one might imagine — just think of the 1957 sentencing of psychiatrist and physician Wilhelm Reich, found guilty of theorizing orgonic and sexual therapy as a healing tool; it's no accident that his writings are still banned by the American scientific establishment.

There's a far deeper root running through these songs about sex and carefree abandon: rather than simply baring his soul, Sturgill lays his body bare too, dick and vagina included.

The most furious, rock'n'roll track is matched, fittingly, by the most direct and political invective: "Excited Delirium" tackles head-on the killing of George Floyd and Ice's role in modern strategies of repression, yet the true nature of "Mutiny After Midnight" also lies in the raw, grimy collisions of funk and country-rock found on tracks like "Stay On That" or "Ain't That A Bitch".

Sturgill Simpson has never been this vulgar and insolent, but never this effective and biting either.

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24/04/2026