Shaky Eyes is the latest single from Hiss Golden Messenger, the North Carolina-based project of MC Taylor. Taylor’s gorgeous songcraft will be familiar to many readers, and this is a great example of his light tunefulness and sensitive writing. Through Shaky Eyes, Taylor explores the humanity and beauty in everyday experiences and challenges, while looking to the future with hope, gambling on the possibility of change. Taylor’s light, bright guitar work and lush layers of instrumentation are the perfect foundation for his engaging, melodic vocal. His words flow like tumbling thoughts in poetic form: “When they call the dance, dance like fire.” Edited by Shea McCrystal, with footage from Graham Tolbert, the video is an artful accompaniment.
Taylor says of the song’s theme: “Do we stick with the sure bet? Or, do we gamble on possibility, never knowing how winning is apt to change things we never even considered? Or: Do we drift in the in-between? I grew up in California, and big western skies are something that color my dreams still. They make me feel small and ambiguous, and they feel like home. This song is indebted, in title if nothing else, to Lou Mathews’ novel Shaky Town, a piece of work that feels Los Angeles, the Southland, deeply and lovingly. This tune was also written in Santa Fe under a neon mescal moon.”
This is the second single from I’m People, the forthcoming new album from Hiss Golden Messenger. Due out on 1st May, the album – as the title suggests – is a collection of songs that explore the human experience, the human spirit and our shared humanity. These are songs to sing and dance along to, songs that listeners will relate to. And, despite the uncertainty of life in America in 2026, Taylor seeks hope throughout the album. He says: “The songs on I’m People are about running towards and away from things, about reasonable and realistic hope and expectations, about having babies, getting older, love and lust and luck and music. They are songs about solitude and heartbreak and poverty of the spirit, and maybe community as some kind of antidote for these particular types of sicknesses. Shedding old skin. Mystery as a beautiful necessity.” Thoughtful and, ultimately, uplifting, these are joyous songs.
