Simone Felice - Strangers

A founding member of acclaimed Catskill Mountain-based acts The Felice Brothers and The Duke & The King, who has worked and toured with the likes of Levon Helm, Rick Rubin, Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch over the years, Simone Felice made the decision to branch out on his own following a serious health scare.

In 2010, aged 34, the musician, poet and novelist underwent emergency heart surgery to correct the slow, degenerative effects of a childhood fever. It was this brush with death, coupled with the desire to tell his own stories, that inspired him to go solo.

Recorded in the Catskills with producer David Baron, with guests including his two Felice siblings, Leah Siegel and members of The Lumineers, Strangers is quite literally part of his ongoing cri de coeur (he released his self-titled solo debut in 2012).

There’s a strong Bob Dylan/Tom Petty influence running through some of these ten, largely autobiographical, folk-rock songs, but Felice has enough of his own good stuff going on to ensure that he’s no pale imitator. The Dylan debt is particularly discernible on opening track and first cut ‘Molly-O!’, which features additional vocals from Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Feaites of The Lumineers, and sees Felice tipping his hat to “baby blue” (something he does again on ‘Gettysburg’).

It says much about his musical and lyrical gifts that many of these songs sound as if they’re old classics rather than brand new compositions. The gorgeously lush and sunshine-drenched ‘If You Go To L.A.’ could easily have been recorded 50 years ago. Elsewhere, there are playful hints of rock ‘n’ roll decadence. On ‘Heartland’, he sings, “But behind the veneer/the cocaine was baking soda/ and you ran like a deer/ Oh dear.”

For obvious reasons, mortality is also a theme. On the mournful piano-led farewell to his birthplace ‘Bye Bye Palenville’, he croons, “You can aim your blows at me/ You can pray the Rosary/ but in the end we meet our maker alone.”

There are no Strangers here, only great songs you haven’t heard yet.

Out March 21.