Johnny Blue Skies - Passage du Desir

"Gonna hop on my scooter, go down to the store/When people say, 'Are you him?' I'll say, 'Not anymore.'" This passage from "Scooter Blues" isn't the only time Sturgill Simpson sings about leaving his old name and persona behind on Passage du Desir, the first album he's released as Johnny Blue Skies. Simpson adopted Johnny Blue Skies after a vocal cord hemorrhage during the supporting tour for The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, an injury that left the singer without a voice and with a deep depression. A move to Paris revived his spirits, leading to his rebirth as Johnny Blue Skies. The very title of Passage du Desir hints at Simpson's new home, as do the faint continental accordions that usher in the record, but the remarkable thing about this 2024 album is that it in no way feels as if he's running away from his past.

There's a cool breeze blowing through Passage du Desir, a mellowness that takes the edge off Simpson's musical wandering. Stylistically, he's as restless as ever, easing himself from plaintive country ballads to supple R&B, offering a blissed-out boogie on "Scooter Blues," and ending the whole affair with "One for the Road," a twilight farewell whose soulful slow burn concludes in Pink Floyd theatrics. Apart from the slight new wave air of "Right Kind of Dream" -- its gleaming neon is equally indebted to yacht country -- there's nothing necessarily unexpected in the twists and turns on Passage du Desir, apart from its vibe. There's no heaviness here, no sense of torment. Even when he's singing about a "Swamp of Sadness" and wondering "If the Sun Never Rises Again," it's clear that Simpson has made his way through the darkness, settling into a place where he's utterly comfortable in his skin and scars. AllMusicGuide