00-hiss_golden_messenger-lateness_of_dancers-2014-erp.nfo
Artist | Hiss Golden Messenger
Title | Lateness Of Dancers
Genre | Folk/Rock Format | Album
Source | CDDA Time | 42:49
Label | Merge Records Store | 2014
Catalog | MRG523 Rip | 2015
Bitrate | 211 kbps Size | 68.06 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4
01. Lucia 3:11
02. Saturday's Song 4:35
03. Mahogany Dread 4:06
04. Day O Day (A Love So Free) 5:30
05. Lateness Of Dancers 5:20
06. I'm A Raven (Shake Children) 2:50
07. Black Dog Wind (Rose Of Roses) 4:30
08. Southern Grammar 4:52
09. Chapter & Verse (Ione's Song) 4:47
10. Drum 3:08
A vehicle for singer/songwriter Michael Taylor (M.C. Taylor) and
multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Scott Hirsch, Hiss
Golden Messenger's fusion of classic rock, folk-pop, and sparse
blues in various guises has seen Taylor compared to the likes of
lo-fi legends Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Bill Callahan. Born and
raised in Southern California, Taylor was inspired to pick up the
guitar by his musician father, who had previously played in the
Settlers, a pop outfit that once opened for John Denver. His first
musical outing was with Scott Hirsch in the hardcore punk band
Ex-Ignota. But the influences of the Beatles, the Byrds, and Buffalo
Springfield proved too strong to ignore. He began writing his own
songs, and in his late teens he moved to San Francisco, where he
fronted the country-rock outfit the Court and Spark, who released
four critically acclaimed albums before disbanding in 2007.
"Lateness Of Dancers", Hiss Golden Messenger's debut for Merge, is a
more melodic and polished affair than we're used to; it is also true
that founder and songwriter M.C. Taylor's songwriting and vision
have grown considerably since 2013's fine "Haw". "Lateness Of
Dancers" - its title taken from a Eudora Welty story - retains that
source's earthiness as it engages everything from folk,
country-rock, back-country fiddle music, and even Southern R&B, the
latter by way of an electric piano whose use recalls Muscle Shoals
and Stax. Taylor is accompanied by longstanding partner and bassist
Scott Hirsch (who also plays mandolin and pedal steel) and their
veteran drummer Terry Lonergan. Guitarist William Tyler also returns
and contributes considerably. Vocalist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig of
Mountain Man and Megafaun's Phil and Brad Cook, as well as others,
also appear. Opener "Lucia" borrows the one-two, one-two rhythmic
thump so prevalent near the end of Bob Dylan's Street Legal
--smearing it with Bobby Charles' greasy groove sensibilities as
Tyler's wah-wah Stratocaster, distorted steel guitars, and Wurlitzer
blur in the backdrop. Taylor's lyric is couched in reverie and
symbolic mysticism, and rolls atop the center confidently.
While "Mahogany Dread" digs into the past, it celebrates the more
humble present with gratitude, underscored by a sprawling B-3 and
Tyler's tight, tasteful fills. The title track scales it all back. A
simple acoustic guitar introduces Taylor's grainy vocal in offering
some of the record's finest lyrics, a piano, Sauser-Monnig's gentle
backing vocal, and a subtle organ to underscore his purposeful
delivery. "I'm A Raven (Shake Children)" is a downright snaky,
nearly funky blues; Charles' spirit and Dylan's R&B period come
wafting - though more economically - through again. A different
version of that idea - this time evocative of J.J. Cale - haunts the
stellar "Southern Grammar". "Black Dog Wind (Rose Of Roses)" is a
slow country waltz. Its lyrics juxtapose the lessons of a father
recalled in the protagonist's determination to make his own way no
matter the cost.
The wisdom of those teachings is illustrated fully - if not
deliberately - in "Drum", the bittersweet, breezy, back-porch fiddle
tune that closes the record. Four albums in, "Lateness Of Dancers"
reveals the arrived-at maturity in Taylor's songwriting, and his
ability to convey, in the first-person narratives of his
protagonists, a way through the complex notions and pain of living
in the world by embracing them on their own terms, with no attempt
at escape. The songs, arrangements, and Taylor's and Hirsch's deft
production are all rimmed with - not drenched in - light. Taken
together, they underscore the existential grit and elemental
spirituality that illustrate Hiss Golden Messenger's best work.
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