Hiss Golden Messenger – Lateness Of Dancers

Mike (MC) Taylor brings forth his fifth full-length record under the Hiss Golden Messenger moniker, on Merge Records, Lateness Of Dancers, released September 9, 2014. The usual suspects are all accounted for — William Tyler handles some lead guitar work, longtime cohort Scott Hirsch glues the rhythm with his bass guitar, while doubling as sound engineer, and Megafaun’s multi-instrumentalist brotherly duo, Phil and Brad Cook, round out fills and solos — to name only a few. What transpires is yet another ethereal journey through the guitar-toting, folk mainstay’s brand of soul-strumming, heavy thought-provoking lyrical wizardry that seems to flow through him like the neighboring river Haw (which was the name of last year’s nearly perfect album on his old label, Paradise of Bachelors).

Lateness Of Dancers, which takes its name from a Eudora Welty short story, is another collection of ten songs that seem to grow on you with each rotation. Over 20 years of writing and performing music in several genres, including in the San Francisco based band the Court & Spark (a personal favorite), is present in the catalog from which Lateness Of Dancers pulls its opener, “Lucia”, although it’s a bit revamped and re-thought to set the newest effort assail. Taylor closes out the record with “Drum,” which appeared on his stellar Bad Debt record — notably captured in his kitchen while his young son, Elijah, slept in the neighboring bedroom. It is, perhaps, a nod to coming into his own and hitting his artistic stride, with a trilogy of releases in the past few years: Lateness Of Dancers, Haw, and 2010’s remarkable Poor Moon. All three of these are perennial, if not daily plays during my travails. They are a far cry, sound-wise, from the hardcore outfit Ex-Ignota, in which both Taylor and Hirsch cut their proverbial teeth back in the 1990s. (Hardcore music is a habit I’ve noticed many musicians and songwriters seem to have stemmed from in the Americana realm. It’s a fine way to start out and overtly express oneself, especially at that time in the American music landscape when a do-it-yourself ethos carried through in droves, in our own cozy musical community.)

Hiss Golden Messenger captures and takes you to inert emotional places almost like an aquarium view into Taylor’s heart, soul, and world. You can’t help but feel as if you know him closely, like a longtime friend, after delving into the catalog. I suppose “heart on the sleeve” is the phrase to coin here — at least it loosely fits in conveying it when putting pen to paper. Lateness Of Dancers is a fine place to start your introduction to Mike Taylor and his talent pool of traditional, sometimes other-worldly musicians. I challenge you to give it a spin and put it away. To save some time, pick up Haw, Poor Moon, and Bad Debt while you’re at it, and you’ve just assured yourself a pretty good fall, moving into winter.

+Words: Scott Zuppardo+

Merge: https://www.mergerecords.com/lateness-of-dancers 
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