Hiss Golden Messenger is Durham, North Carolina-based songwriter M.C. Taylor, in partnership with multi-instrumentalist and recordist Scott Hirsch, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. The pair have been playing a sort of off-kilter mystical country music together for nearly two decades, although it was only with the re-release of the excellent From Country Hai East Cotton last year that we became properly aware of them.
They offer up classic back-porch folk and country with echoes of gospel and blues, which is often accompanied by warm organic sound effects such as cicadas or the patter of rain. The duo have certainly managed to craft and create their own unique and contemporary take on traditional Americana and roots music that is compelling and sometimes pleasantly unsettling.
Maintaining the confusion over release and re-release dates is ‘new’ album Poor Moon – officially and originally released last year, but being re-released tomorrow and hitherto unavailable on CD (we think).
Whatever the exact details of the release we do know Poor Moon features members of Black Twig Pickers, Brightblack Morning Light and D. Charles Speer & The Helix and is (we think) the fourth proper Hiss Golden Messenger release. It also serves as the best summation thus far of Taylor’s lone journeys through the dark night of the soul.
Order the album here.
Download Hiss Golden Messenger – Jesus Shot Me In The Head mp3 (from Poor Moon)
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