(Contempory singer-songwriter, Americana, indiefolk) [CD] Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like a Levee (Limited Deluxe 2-CD Edition) - 2016, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

N/A

A vehicle for singer/songwriter Michael Taylor (M.C. Taylor) and multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Scott Hirsch, Hiss Golden Messenger's fusion of classic rock, folk-pop, and sparse blues in various guises has seen Taylor compared to the likes of lo-fi legends Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Bill Callahan. Born and raised in Southern California, Taylor was inspired to pick up the guitar by his musician father, who had previously played in the Settlers, a pop outfit that once opened for John Denver. His first musical outing was with Scott Hirsch in the hardcore punk band Ex-Ignota. But the influences of the Beatles, the Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield proved too strong to ignore. He began writing his own songs, and in his late teens he moved to San Francisco, where he fronted the country-rock outfit the Court and Spark, who released four critically acclaimed albums before disbanding in 2007.
Country Hai East Cotton After relocating to North Carolina, Taylor and Hirsch began to record material under the alias of Hiss Golden Messenger, but Taylor performed entirely solo with just an acoustic guitar for accompaniment when it came to playing live. Following the release of albums Country Hai East Cotton and the vinyl-only Root Work through their Heaven and Earth Magic Recording Company, they signed a deal with U.K. label Black Maps, which distributed Hiss Golden Messenger's international debut, the nine-track acoustic mini-album Bad Debt, in 2010.
Poor Moon In 2011, the boutique label Paradise of Bachelors did a very limited LP run of Poor Moon, which sold out almost instantly. The pair also released Lord I Love the Rain on their own label. Tompkins Square re-released Poor Moon in 2012, as well as the single "Jesus Shot Me in the Head" b/w "Jesus Dub." A live, digital-only recording entitled Plowed: Live in Bovina was self-released that same year. Haw, a new studio recording by Hiss Golden Messenger, was issued by Light in the Attic in 2013.
Lateness of DancersTaylor has also been a college lecturer specializing in folklore, is responsible for the blog The Old Straight Track, and has helped edit a music education curriculum for Quincy Jones. A reissue of Bad Debt, HGM's lost first recording (a very limited edition to begin with, its remaining copies were destroyed in the PIAS warehouse fire), saw reissue by Paradise of Bachelors with bonus and unreleased material. Taylor signed to Merge Records in January 2014. Hiss Golden Messenger's debut for the label was entitled Lateness of Dancers and issued in September. Southern Grammar, a three-track EP titled for a track from the previous album, included a leftover from those sessions and another otherwise orphan track. It was released in February of 2015. After intense touring, Taylor returned to Durham. In July 2016, Hiss Golden Messenger announced a new album on the Merge website before beginning a global tour. Entitled Heart Like a Levee, it was recorded in Durham, and co-produced by Taylor and Bradley Cook with a close-knit group of collaborators including backing vocalists Tift Merritt and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. A pre-release single, "Biloxi," was streamed at the same time as the announcement; the album appeared in October. (Jon O'Brien, AllMusic)

On 2014's Lateness of Dancers, M.C. Taylor's Hiss Golden Messenger embraced a more blues- and gospel-oriented sound without leaving behind their trademark folk-inspired Americana. Heart Like a Levee is another step forward; its roots come from the soul, funky R&B, and gospel-ized blues the South delivered so abundantly during the1960s and '70s via Muscle Shoals, Stax, Volt, Hi, Goldwax, and Josie.
These songs reflect a period in 2015 when Taylor struggled with the decision to forsake the security a day job offered his family and pursue music full-time. His cast includes old friends Phil and Bradley Cook of Megafaun, Bon Iver drummer/percussionist Matt McCaughan, and Mountain Man vocalist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. Newcomers include vocalists Tift Merritt and Sonyia Turner, and saxophonist Michael Lewis. "Biloxi" opens with congas and a drum kit, strummed acoustic guitars, Taylor's mandolin, and a high-lonesome Dobro that weds country and soul à la Delaney & Bonnie. The title track is a tender, taut reflection of self-doubt, vulnerability, and commitment. Mandolin, banjo, Wurlitzer, and backing singers buoy Taylor's delivery: "...Is it too heavy honey/Did I carry my piece of the fire? …If you let me honey/I'll set the world on fire for you…." The swampy, funky gospel blues in "Like a Mirror Loves a Hammer," with its nasty clavinet, multi-tracked saxophones, and plodding bassline wed the eeriness of the early Staple Singers, the soaring choruses of Joe South, and the funky jamming of the Meters. "Cracked Windshield" harkens back to the Lateness of Dancers era, but "As the Crow Flies" offers the kind of Wurlitzer line Spooner Oldham minted: it gets grafted onto a raucous, Memphis-style rockabilly piano -- à la Jim Dickinson's Dixie Fried -- and multi-tracked lead and backing vocals recall a David Porter production. The steamy slide guitar break is icing on the cake. "Happy Day (Sister My Sister)" is glorious, uplifting country-soul gospel. Turner's and Sauser-Monnig's backing vocals add heavenly ethereality to Taylor's earthbound singing. "Ace of Cups Hung Low Band" dances the tightrope between swampy blues and choogling roots rock with strings and punchy saxophones adding heft and texture. Closer "Highland Grace" is an uncluttered attempt at soul as Taylor's interplay with his backing singers is intuitive, sweet, and stirring, carried by acoustic piano (think Dan Penn), saxophones, shuffling backbeat, in-the-pocket bass, and strummed guitars.
Despite its many references, Heart Like a Levee is just not a throwback record. Taylor combines, inhabits, and adapts his inspirations in the present through the strength of his writing. His melodies are basic; his words are anything but. They bridge the temporal to the eternal, the carnal to the divine, the homespun to the historic; they resonate directly through the grain of his unaffected yet emotionally expressive singing voice. Due to its bright, open production and quirky presentation, Heart Like a Levee is a watermark for Hiss Golden Messenger. Seldom have hard times sounded this uplifting. (Thom Jurek, AllMusic)
This is a Limited Deluxe 2-CD Edition (only 2 000 copies worldwide). It bundles the principal disc (identical to the regular release) with a bonus disc, titled Vestapol, containing 8 tracks that M. C. Taylor recorded mostly solo at home or in various hotel rooms at the time of the creation of the main album. This edition, available for sale on the record company's Web site, also includes a promo poster, the enlarged photo featured on the main album cover. No lyrics sheet for the bonus disc is available.

Disc One:
M. C. Taylor: lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, mixing, production.
Phil Cook: vocals (1, 3, 8, 9), acoustic guitar, banjo, dobro, electric guitar, slide guitar, Clavinet, organ, piano, synth, Wurlitzer.
Bradley Cook: vocals (1-3, 9), bass, Duck bass, acoustic guitar, synth
Matt McCaughan: vocals (2), drums, congas, percussion.
Josh Kaufman: electric guitar (2, 11)
Ryan Gustafson: electric guitar (4)
Chris Boerner: vocals (2), barotone and electric guitar (8)
Michael Lewis: vocals (7), saxophone (2, 4), tenor saxophone (10)
Matt Douglas: saxophone (11), baritone saxophone (10)
Rob Moose: strings (5, 10)
Alexandra Sauser-Monnig: vocals (2, 3, 6, 7, 9-11)
Tift Merritt: vocals (3, 7, 8)
Sonyia Turner: vocals (3, 9, 11)

Disc Two:
M. C. Taylor: vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, tambourine, drum, electric piano, banjo, harmonium, and Weeper
Bradley Cook: bass
Phil Cook: slide guitar
Andrew Marlin: vocals and mandolin
Joseph Decosimo: fiddle