Simone Felice - All The Bright Coins (Dark Green Vinyl)

Simone Felice has long dedicated his storied life to the arts, and perhaps his brushes with death during childhood as heard in the song “No Tomorrows” have proved an unlikely but powerful source of inspiration. All The Bright Coins is his latest, arguably greatest devotion to song and the power of the words within it. Yet, like all artists worth their salt, he claims not to have quite grasped what he’s been reaching for. There had been no grand plans to write this new album. Simone was happy with his lot and becoming increasingly more successful as a frontline record producer and songwriter (The Lumineers, Bat For Lashes, Jade Bird, Matt Maeson f/ Lana Del Rey, and indeed, The Felice Brothers) but, he muses, sometimes the lure and pull of penning his own material becomes too strong to resist, most closely referenced in the track “Puppet” f/ Four Tet.

“Year Around The Sun”, written on New Year’s morning in 2021, after a year of endless lockdowns and constant fear and confusion, is a recalibration of what’s real and what’s important. With help from friends, music, laughter & time, we’ll find a rebirth.

I began writing All The Bright Coins in 2019,” says Felice. “It had been several years since I had written anything of my own, as I’d felt called to produce records and write with other artists I love. Then one rainy morning I wrote ‘Puppet,’ a mainly autobiographical tune about the dark, empty, and farcical side of being an underground touring troubadour most of my adult life. Part of me felt as though perhaps this should, and would, be the last Simone Felice song I’d ever put out, ‘Puppet stand, Puppet bow,’ a final curtain call. But then a few months later I wrote ‘Prisoner,’ and then‘ Bare Trees.’ The ‘Heat’ (that’s what myself and a few close friends call it: that sweet, painful, ungovernable whisper) was with me once again...

All The Bright Coins is a richly rewarding and inspired sound, that makes a personal connection with the listener. It’s built squarely on a bedrock of emotion, utilizing an acoustic guitar, and occasionally a piano to back the distinctive voice. It’s a record that requires attention, a headphones record.