Jump for Joy a new album from Hiss Golden Messenger
HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER
NEW ALBUM JUMP FOR JOY RELEASED AUGUST 25th VIA MERGE RECORDS
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THE CELEBRATORY NEW TRACK “NU-GRAPE” HERE
“There is just something about Hiss Golden Messenger’s music that makes it feel like a golden-hued summer day even when it’s not” – The New York Times
Grammy-nominated band Hiss Golden Messenger has announced the release of their highly anticipated new album Jump for Joy (Merge Records) on August 25th. The group has also announced an extensive fall tour of the US in support of Jump for Joy (see list of dates below). The first single “Nu-Grape” bursts with buoyant verses and a gospel-tinged chorus featuring Aoife O’Donovan and Amy Helm on backing vocals. Watch the new video HERE.
Musically, lyrically, and conceptually, Jump for Joy is unlike any previous Hiss Golden Messenger album. For starters, it contains the most optimistic and groove-filled songs that bandleader, singer and songwriter M.C. Taylor has made. The narrative is somewhat autobiographical as he created a character to represent himself through the various experiences he had has through his life in music.
As Taylor explains through the character, “I was able to get inside these places that exist so deep in my sense memory: Me at 16, knowing intuitively that there had to be something out there for me, something mysterious and divine that wasn’t full of fucked-up, confusing pain; me with my hardcore band, age 18, wandering the vast expanses of Texas beneath a big, fat tangerine moon, scrounging change to fill the gas tank, trying to make a soundcheck for a show that never happened. There’s me at 30, having kids, writing songs as though they were gravestone epitaphs, not yet understanding that nothing is so permanent and serious and that I needed to be gentler with my spirit. There’s me at 35, still chasing the thing because I’ve touched it once or twice and I know it’s the only way for me to feel whole and real and useful, but in the rear-view mirror, I can see everyone who gave up in search of something easier and not so heartbreaking.”
For more insight, please read the new bio HERE.
As the album title suggests, a joyful ambience permeates the record and offers a sense of freedom in the music. Anyone who has experienced a Hiss Golden Messenger live performance since touring opened up following the pandemic will immediately recognize this. Taylor and bandmates Chris Boemer (guitar), Alex Bingham (bass), Nick Falk (drums) and Sam Fribush (keys) have never sounded better. The group has achieved a delicate balance of becoming simultaneously tighter and looser. All of this has been captured on Jump for Joy, which was produced by Taylor.
Jump for Joy is the follow-up to 2021’s critically acclaimed release Quietly Blowing It, which was an intimate and introspective offering that found Taylor ruminating on themes of growing up, alienation, obligation, hope, purpose, family, class, self-discovery, healing, and rebuilding
Jump for Joy is available for preorder HERE.
