One of the album’s highlights, and probably a top 10 song penned by Simpson himself, is the sprawling, desolate “Jupiter’s Faerie.” The song begins with sparse instrumentation as Simpson mundanely describes looking up an old friend. As the rest of Johnny Blue Skies join in, they echo the narrator’s heart wrenching discovery that his friend had succumbed to suicide. “For some reason today, I thought of you/ Thought I’d look you up, see what you’ve been up to/ How long’s it been? Ten years or maybe more/ Since I told you not to call me, shut you out and closed the door.” It’s a masterful portrayal of the guilt a person feels when someone close to them falls victim to suicide. “Today I read the news, you were gone/ You left a year ago, you chose to check out and move on/ I guess the pain became the only thing each and every day would bring.” Without question, this song will bring the house down each night on the band’s upcoming tour.

Despite its seven-minute runtime, “Jupiter’s Faerie” isn’t even the longest track on the album. “One For The Road,” the album’s final track, takes the listener on a nearly nine-minute journey. It starts with a straightforward confession of one man’s secrets and the subsequent fallout, then transitions into a psychedelic country jam (featuring Mike Rojas on the fucking melodica!) that wouldn’t sound out of place on Metamodern Sounds Of Country Music.

Shrouded in the new identity of Johnny Blues Skies, Simpson has crafted some of his best songs to date. To Simpson, this band has to feel like some kind of rock and roll version of Halloween. Like Ziggy Stardust or the faces of Dylan, Johnny Blue Skies allows Simpson the freedom to be himself without the comparisons to a back catalog. Nevertheless, it might be tempting to think of Passage Du Desir as a continuation of the Sturgill Simpson book of songs. Simpson’s comforting, contemplative tone shapes the record as it does on his solo records. “Scooter Blues,” a country blues version of something out of Jimmy Buffett’s catalog, tells the story of Simpson living life out of the shadow of his solo catalog. “People say, ‘Are you him?’ I say, ‘Not anymore,’” he sings in the chorus. Simpson, as Johnny Blue Skies, wants us to know that he’s not “back.” The old Sturgill is, in fact, retired; fishing all day and stepping on Legos. For Simpson, Johnny Blue Skies is the way forward.