Their 2019 album Terms of Surrender received a nomination for Best Americana Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
They have gone on to release four additional full-length records via Merge, as well as remastered versions of Bad Debt, Poor Moon, and Haw. Hiss Golden Messenger were signed to Merge in April 2014 and released their fifth album and Merge label debut, Lateness of Dancers on September 9, 2014. Hiss Golden Messenger performing live in December, 2018. The band's fourth album, Haw, was released on April 2, 2013. The band's third album, Poor Moon, was released in 2012 via North Carolina-based "Paradise of Bachelors", and received positive reviews. This was followed by their international debut album, Bad Debt, in 2010, released via Black Maps. The band's debut album, Country Hai East Cotton, was released in 2009 via Taylor's label in a limited edition of 500. Hiss Golden Messenger's early recordings were released through Taylor's own label, "Heaven & Earth Magic Recording Company." The band was formed by Michael Carrington "M.C." Taylor and Scott Hirsch, following the dissolution of their previous band, the alternative country group The Court and Spark. Hiss Golden Messenger is an American folk band originating from Durham, North Carolina, formed in 2007 and led by singer and songwriter MC Taylor. Paradise of Bachelors, Heaven & Earth Magic, Blackmaps, Merge, Three Lobed Recordings Seldom have hard times sounded this uplifting.Indie folk, blues, alternative country, country rock Due to its bright, open production and quirky presentation, Heart Like a Levee is a watermark for Hiss Golden Messenger. They bridge the temporal to the eternal, the carnal to the divine, the homespun to the historic they resonate directly through the grain of his unaffected yet emotionally expressive singing voice. His melodies are basic his words are anything but. Taylor combines, inhabits, and adapts his inspirations in the present through the strength of his writing. Closer "Highland Grace" is an uncluttered attempt at soul as Taylor's interplay with his backing singers is intuitive, sweet, and stirring, carried by acoustic piano (think Dan Penn), saxophones, shuffling backbeat, in-the-pocket bass, and strummed guitars.ĭespite its many references, Heart Like a Levee is just not a throwback record. "Ace of Cups Hung Low Band" dances the tightrope between swampy blues and choogling roots rock with strings and punchy saxophones adding heft and texture. Turner's and Sauser-Monnig's backing vocals add heavenly ethereality to Taylor's earthbound singing. "Happy Day (Sister My Sister)" is glorious, uplifting country-soul gospel. The steamy slide guitar break is icing on the cake. "Cracked Windshield" harkens back to the Lateness of Dancers era, but "As the Crow Flies" offers the kind of Wurlitzer line Spooner Oldham minted: it gets grafted onto a raucous, Memphis-style rockabilly piano - à la Jim Dickinson's Dixie Fried - and multi-tracked lead and backing vocals recall a David Porter production. Mandolin, banjo, Wurlitzer, and backing singers buoy Taylor's delivery: ".Is it too heavy honey/Did I carry my piece of the fire? …If you let me honey/I'll set the world on fire for you…." The swampy, funky gospel blues in "Like a Mirror Loves a Hammer," with its nasty clavinet, multi-tracked saxophones, and plodding bassline wed the eeriness of the early Staple Singers, the soaring choruses of Joe South, and the funky jamming of the Meters. The title track is a tender, taut reflection of self-doubt, vulnerability, and commitment. "Biloxi" opens with congas and a drum kit, strummed acoustic guitars, Taylor's mandolin, and a high-lonesome Dobro that weds country and soul à la Delaney & Bonnie. Newcomers include vocalists Tift Merritt and Sonyia Turner, and saxophonist Michael Lewis. His cast includes old friends Phil and Bradley Cook of Megafaun, Bon Iver drummer/percussionist Matt McCaughan, and Mountain Man vocalist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. These songs reflect a period in 2015 when Taylor struggled with the decision to forsake the security a day job offered his family and pursue music full-time.
Heart Like a Levee is another step forward its roots come from the soul, funky R&B, and gospel-ized blues the South delivered so abundantly during the1960s and '70s via Muscle Shoals, Stax, Volt, Hi, Goldwax, and Josie. Taylor's Hiss Golden Messenger embraced a more blues- and gospel-oriented sound without leaving behind their trademark folk-inspired Americana.
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