hiss golden messenger

Court & Spark cohorts MC Taylor and Scott Hirsch deftly avoid country mouse/city mouse clichés to craft a gorgeous Americana opus that’s an instant classic.

Even back when Hiss Golden Messenger frontman MC Taylor and Brooklyn-based guitarist Scott Hirsch played together in indie-twang troupe the Court & Spark, they shared a love of well-crafted songs trimmed in exquisite guitar tones. At one time, they even got the Byrds’ Gene Parsons to bend his B string all over a couple of songs.

With their fifth studio album, Lateness of Dancers, Taylor and Hirsch’s musical chemistry has braided together in even more beautiful similarities and contrasts. “Saturday’s Song” is an ageless yet fresh-sounding addition to the hymnal for just-got-paid working people everywhere. Taylor’s nascent North Carolina drawl seeps into Hirsch’s acoustic 6-string voicings like honey in tea, and the sonic brew is then spiked with a solo in which Hirsch’s nimble arpeggiations are the picture of sharp, cosmopolitan cool.

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