Hiss Golden Messenger
Lateness of Dancers
Merge; 2014
by Ezhov Kirill “Fill in” - commands M.C.Taylor, Hiss Golden Messenger’s mastermind, in the middle of the song “Day O Day (A Love So Free)” and a keyboard line, that follows his order, sounds confused and unsure, as the piano player was caught off guard. And that’s exactly how listening to this record makes you feel - confused and unsure of revisiting it.
Lateness of Dancers is Taylor’s debut on Merge. When his signing was announced earlier this year it seemed as almost perfect union - Hiss Golden Messenger was up to enrich an already impressive line-up of country-minded Merge artists, such as William Tyler, Mount Moriah and, of course, Lambchop. Then in summer the stand-alone tune “Brother, Do You Know the Road?”, which was not meant to make the new album, followed and sounded fascinating, pulsing with this raw anthemic energy, that framed the best Taylor’s songs to date like “O Little Light” or “Sweet as John Hurt”. Heaven knows what went wrong, but the new record just doesn’t live up to the expectations.
by Ezhov Kirill “Fill in” - commands M.C.Taylor, Hiss Golden Messenger’s mastermind, in the middle of the song “Day O Day (A Love So Free)” and a keyboard line, that follows his order, sounds confused and unsure, as the piano player was caught off guard. And that’s exactly how listening to this record makes you feel - confused and unsure of revisiting it.
Lateness of Dancers is Taylor’s debut on Merge. When his signing was announced earlier this year it seemed as almost perfect union - Hiss Golden Messenger was up to enrich an already impressive line-up of country-minded Merge artists, such as William Tyler, Mount Moriah and, of course, Lambchop. Then in summer the stand-alone tune “Brother, Do You Know the Road?”, which was not meant to make the new album, followed and sounded fascinating, pulsing with this raw anthemic energy, that framed the best Taylor’s songs to date like “O Little Light” or “Sweet as John Hurt”. Heaven knows what went wrong, but the new record just doesn’t live up to the expectations.
The whole album is desperately hook-less and almost every song sounds undercooked - promising melodies leads nowhere, stamping around a couple of chords. The sound of the record, though, is quite impressive, with aforementioned Tyler pinching the strings of his Stratocaster, and long-time Taylor’s collaborator Scott Hirsch providing smooth breezy tunes behind the keyboards. This bunch of musicians, lead by proficient guitarist Taylor himself, sounds big, however they just got nothing to play.
Hiss Golden Messenger was so unique because, while the brilliance of other musicians working in country genre often comes from their performance skills, brilliance of this act was coming from Taylor’s incredible songwriting. He was somehow capable of combining folk and country ease with the rock, pop and even jazz ingenuity. The only song on this record that shows that craft is the closer “Drum”, which was originally recorded for Hiss Golden Messenger’s excellent lo-fi debut Bad Debt. Here Taylor preaches “take the good news, spirit it away”, and it’s a shame that Lateness of Dancers gives you nothing to spirit away. At it's best this album just fills in.
Hiss Golden Messenger was so unique because, while the brilliance of other musicians working in country genre often comes from their performance skills, brilliance of this act was coming from Taylor’s incredible songwriting. He was somehow capable of combining folk and country ease with the rock, pop and even jazz ingenuity. The only song on this record that shows that craft is the closer “Drum”, which was originally recorded for Hiss Golden Messenger’s excellent lo-fi debut Bad Debt. Here Taylor preaches “take the good news, spirit it away”, and it’s a shame that Lateness of Dancers gives you nothing to spirit away. At it's best this album just fills in.
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