and Megafaun, are filled with longing and drive.”–Elle
“Taylor’s songs are the perfect Greek chorus, raw and emotional.”
–Rolling Stone Country
“The first song to be released from Hiss Golden Messenger’s sublime new record… isn’t Don Draper at Sally’s birthday party, freaking out as he realizes everything he’s lost. It’s the understanding that sacrifices worth making don’t feel like sacrifices at all.”–Pitchfork
“[a] bittersweet record.”
–Consequence of Sound
Hiss Golden Messenger’s forthcoming record Heart Like a Levee is out everywhere October 7 on Merge Records. Rolling Stone Country is streaming the record in its entirety HERE, noting that, “Undercurrents of life, death, art and the struggle to reconcile it all animate the 11 vivid songs on Heart Like a Levee, a stately collection of gospelized country-soul…it’s a collection that feels lived-in and true to life.”
The group will embark on a world tour beginning October 14 in Asheville, NC. The tour will see Hiss Golden Messenger creative force M.C. Taylor and his band travel throughout North America before playing shows in the UK and Europe in December. See below for a complete list of dates.
The songs on Heart Like A Levee are immediate, dealing with themes that include leaving and returning, belief and trust, guilt, honesty and life on the road. Hiss Golden Messenger creative force M.C. Taylor says, “I wrote these songs during a time of transition and doubt. The process was raw, but also joyous. I spent a lot of time with these words and chords in all types of weather. In the end I learned more about myself making this record than any in the past, and that’s one important way for me to gauge whether an album was worth making.
I want to make records that feel both minor and major key at the same time; maybe ‘bittersweet’ is a good word for it. Life is simultaneously happy and sad at once and that’s how I want my records to feel. I think that’s how Heart Like a Levee feels.”
The highly anticipated release was self produced by Taylor and Bradley Cook and recorded in Durham, NC with Taylor’s close knit North Carolina collaborators: brothers Phil and Bradley Cook on piano and bass, Matt McCaughan on drums, Tift Merritt and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig on backing vocals and Matt Douglas and Michael Lewis on horns.
Preorder Heart Like a Levee on LP and CD in the Merge store, or digitally here. Double-disc deluxe versions include bonus album Vestapol, composed of eight previously unreleased songs performed and recorded almost entirely by M.C. Taylor in various motels on the road and at his home in Durham, North Carolina. Keep up with Hiss Golden Messenger on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
HEART LIKE A LEVEE TRACK LIST
HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER ON TOUR:
# – with special guest Tift Merritt
* – with The Dead Tongues
^ – with Phil Cook