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

Simone Felice has always written like someone who has lived a few extra lives, and All The Bright Coins leans into that gift with quiet confidence. The record landed on 28 January 2022, and it feels like the sort of album you put on late at night when the house has finally fallen still. You hear the patience right away. Fingerpicked guitars sit close to the mic, pianos come in soft focus, and his voice carries that familiar grain that first drew so many of us in when he was singing with The Felice Brothers. It is intimate, but not claustrophobic. There is air around the arrangements, and that space lets the stories roam.

Felice has spent the last decade becoming one of those behind the scenes names that keeps showing up on records you love. His production work with The Lumineers and Jade Bird is widely noted, and you can hear that same unhurried touch here. Nothing is rushed. A harmony appears, a percussion tap lands in the right place, a small synth figure brightens a corner, then it all falls back into the warm hush of his delivery. The songs feel hand carved rather than factory cut. It is the sound of someone from the Catskills writing with the windows open, listening to the creek and the wind.

Lyrically he continues to work in that long American tradition of kitchen table scenes and roadside marvels, but he avoids the sepia trap. There are lines about ageing, grace and luck that hit hard without straining for significance. You can sense the broader arc of his life under the surface, including brushes with mortality that he has spoken about over the years, yet the tone is tender rather than heavy. When he reaches for hope it is a humble kind. When he sings about sorrow he leaves room for light to get in. That balance is the record’s quiet engine.

If you came up on The Felice Brothers, you will catch familiar flashes. A shiver of accordion here, a story that slips from confession to fable there. But this is a different weather system. Felice’s solo work sits closer to the chest. The choruses do not strain to be anthems, and that restraint pays off. The melodies ride under your skin after a few spins. By the third listen you realise you are humming harmonies you didn’t notice on first pass. That is usually the sign of songs that will stick around.

I kept thinking about how this would sound in a shop stereo on a rainy afternoon in a Melbourne record store, the sort of day when strangers nod to each other because a track has caught the room just right. It has that communal hush. On vinyl it makes even more sense, because the pacing invites you to live with two or three songs at a time. If you are the kind of listener who searches for Simone Felice vinyl, this one earns the shelf space. The artwork, the simplicity of the sequence, the glow of the room when the needle drops, it all lines up. All The Bright Coins vinyl copies have been easy to recommend to regulars who wander in asking what to take home for a quiet weekend.

There is also a soft thrill in hearing a writer who has helped shape big, radio-loved albums turn back inward. He knows how to frame a voice, and he gives himself that same courtesy. Little details pop, like a barely-there tambourine that lifts a second verse, or the way a piano holds a chord long enough to let a lyric settle. The production never crowds the words. It just gives them a place to land. That restraint will reward anyone who likes records that reveal themselves in layers.

If you are crate digging online, add this one to your list alongside earlier Simone Felice albums on vinyl. It sits well next to the scrappier charm of his band days and the folk noir of his other solo sets. And if you want to buy Simone Felice records online from a local, most shops that specialise in vinyl records Australia wide will either have it or sort you out with a quick order. It is that kind of record. Not flashy, not trying to win a loudness contest, just a songwriter at ease with his craft, handing over a small bundle of songs that feel lived in and ready to keep you company.