HOW TO BUY: HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER
COUNTRY HAI EAST COTTON
HEAVEN & EARTH MAGIC RECORDING COMPANY 2009
Recorded in 2007 and 2008, the first Hiss album finds Taylor and Hirsch drawing more strongly on Californian traditions; a slick, stoned, Laurel Canyon vibe predominates. Also recommended: Root Work (Heaven & Earth Magic, 2010), looser live jams of the same canon.
BAD DEBT
BLACKMAPS 2010
Transplanted to North Carolina, Taylor, with only his acoustic guitar and a sleeping baby for company, accidentally stumbles on a breakthrough album. Originally released on the UK label Blackmaps, an extended and superior version of Bad Debt was released by Paradise Of Bachelors in early 2014.
POOR MOON
PARADISE OF BACHELORS/TOMPKINS SQUARE 2011
The trademark Hiss sound begins to evolve, as Taylor gathers a crew of unassumingly gifted players to flesh out the Bad Debt songs. Contains the definitive version of a key song of ambivalent faith, “Jesus Shot Me In The Head”.
GOLDEN GUNN
THREE LOBED RECORDINGS 2013
An engaging detour, as Taylor and Hirsch hook up with the master guitarist, Steve Gunn for a set of cosmic porch grooves. Often comes across as a wry and loving homage to JJ Cale, right down to the appropriated logo.
HAW
PARADISE OF BACHELORS 2013
“A garland for the Southern Piedmont,” reads the epigraph and, with a bunch of local musicians (including Phil and Brad Cook) now enlisted, Haw is seeped in North Carolina culture. Downhome, then, but not cosy: these are Taylor’s most troubled set of songs to date.
LATENESS OF DANCERS
MERGE 2014
A new label, and a stealthily expanding vision, as Taylor channels his encyclopaedic knowledge of roots music into a triumphant set of very personal songs (another classic one, “Brother Do You Know The Road”, preceded Lateness as a stand-alone single). “A couple of kids/Mahogany dread/But happy days are still ahead…”
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