Hiss Golden Messenger’s fifth album, ‘Lateness Of Dancers’, was one of 2014’s most under the radar gems: “an Americana record of immense spiritual and musical grace”, according to NME’s 9/10 review. It was also MC Taylor’s first for fabled North Carolina indie label, Merge. Clearly wanting to make the most of their new signee (known to his folks as Mike), next week they’re releasing the gorgeous ‘Southern Grammar’ EP: this version of the title track (originally on ‘Lateness Of Dancers’) was taken from a session for Philadelphia radio station WXPN, while ‘Brother, Do You Know The Road?’ and ‘He Wrote The Book’ were both orphan songs. Taylor writes of the pair:
“Incidentally – and this I didn’t realize until we had gathered the material for this record – ‘Brother, Do You Know the Road?’ and ‘He Wrote the Book’ share a lyric that goes:
“And though the storm’s passed over
And the sun is in its place
It’s been a long time
And the rain, how I know it
“Sometimes that feels just about as close to a summation of the HGM philosophy as I can get at. And this is the first and only time that I have ever shared words between two songs.”
It’s a beautiful record that you can stream exclusively below (and pre-order here):
Hopefully this is the beginning of your foray into the depths of the Hiss Golden Messenger catalogue – an easy amble for fans of Bon Iver, Kurt Vile, Jake Bugg, The War On Drugs and Sun Kil Moon. After you’ve streamed ‘Southern Grammar’, I’d recommend starting with ‘Devotion’ from 2013’s ‘Haw’, which you should listen to while reading our sister magazine Uncut’s great feature on the band from last year:
And if you’re smitten, Hiss Golden Messenger are on tour in the UK next week:
Feb 06 Brighton, UK – Bleach
Feb 07 Sunderland, UK – Independent
Feb 08 Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
Feb 09 Glasgow, UK – Stereo
Feb 10 Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute
Feb 11 Bristol, UK – The Lantern
Feb 12 London, UK – Bush Hall