Grammy-nominated band Hiss Golden Messenger has announced the release of their highly anticipated new album ‘Jump for Joy’ which lands via Merge Records on August 25th. The first single ‘Nu-Grape’ bursts with buoyant verses and a gospel-tinged chorus featuring Aoife O’Donovan and Amy Helm on backing vocals. You can watch the video for it below.
Musically, lyrically and conceptually, Jump for Joy is rather unlike any previous Hiss Golden Messenger album, containing what’s described as “the most optimistic and groove-filled songs that bandleader and singer-songwriter M.C. Taylor has made.” The narrative is described as autobiographical as Taylor created a character to represent himself through the various experiences he has had through his life in music.
As Taylor explains through the character, “I was able to get inside these places that exist so deep in my sense memory: Me at 16, knowing intuitively that there had to be something out there for me, something mysterious and divine that wasn’t full of fucked-up, confusing pain; me with my hardcore band, age 18, wandering the vast expanses of Texas beneath a big, fat tangerine moon, scrounging change to fill the gas tank, trying to make a soundcheck for a show that never happened. There’s me at 30, having kids, writing songs as though they were gravestone epitaphs, not yet understanding that nothing is so permanent and serious and that I needed to be gentler with my spirit. There’s me at 35, still chasing the thing because I’ve touched it once or twice and I know it’s the only way for me to feel whole and real and useful, but in the rear-view mirror, I can see everyone who gave up in search of something easier and not so heartbreaking.”
‘Jump for Joy’ is the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Quietly Blowing It’, which was an intimate and introspective offering that found Taylor ruminating on themes of growing up, alienation, obligation, hope, purpose, family, class, self-discovery, healing, and rebuilding. Hiss Golden Messenger’s 2019 album ‘Terms of Surrender’ received a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. Look out for a review here on AUK nearer the release date.
