In recent years, an odd hybrid of folk, country, and Americana has taken hold of the collective consciousness of music listeners everywhere. Bands like Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers, and Deer Tick have all had major success, to varying degrees, managing to score chart hits and multi-platinum records. Hiss Golden Messenger ostensibly fits into this mold, combining many of the same influences, but throughout their latest record, Haw, prove to have a broader musical and emotional palette to work from, resulting in a much deeper, more satisfying work than any of the aforementioned bands have made thus far.
“Red Rose Nantahala” opens Haw with a hard charging honky-tonk groove, while vocalist MC Taylor pleads, “Oh Lord, make me happy,” adding an undercurrent of desperation to its otherwise pleasant sound. Taylor is a major ingredient in Haw’s success; his voice is quite remarkable, reminiscent of Deer Tick’s John McCauley, minus the forced affectation, sounding plaintive, natural, and malleable to fit any mood or style he surrounds himself with. This quality is necessary, as Haw soon deviates from traditional country and folk, adding elements from all over the musical spectrum.
“Sufferer (Love My Conqueror),” the follow up track, actually begins Haw in earnest, an introduction of what’s to come. A slow burn country ballad, it’s burnished by elements of psychedelia, with wah-wah guitars and a swooning string section adding to the off-kilter mood. Touches like this also grace “I’ve Got A Name For The Newborn Child,” which sounds like it was written on Taylor’s back porch in a rocking chair, an easy groove given more weight with an offbeat rhythm section in the chorus, keeping the listener from getting completely comfortable.
Elsewhere, “Sweet As John Hurt” name-drops the legendary Mississippi bluesman while playing as the most straightforward country here, replete with pedal steel guitar fills and a laid back yet assertive beat, and “Cheerwine Easter” offsets its folksy guitar and banjo picking with free jazz saxophone along the lines of Coltrane. Odd bedfellows to be sure, but it all manages to work seamlessly. Peppered along the way are short instrumentals like “Hat Of Rain” that are pretty yet inessential, but still manage to add character and illuminate the innate feeling of melancholy that runs throughout Haw.
The key word to describe Haw is subtle. Unlike Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers, who hit the listener over the head with a barrage of shout-along choruses, Hiss Golden Messenger create a soundscape that’s inviting yet slightly dark, revealing its rougher edges over repeated listens. No, Haw is not anthemic. It is, however, an utterly solid beauty of an album.
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