Hiss Golden Messenger is releasing a new holiday album, O Come All Ye Faithful, this Friday (10/22) via Merge. It features his take on traditional songs, covers of Spiritualized, Woody Guthrie, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and a few original tracks, including “Grace,” which M.C. Taylor says “is about keeping a light for those that are struggling or lost or confused or grieving: the gone ones, our children, poets, teachers. My friends Nathaniel Rateliff, Aoife O’Donovan and Sonyia Turner help me on the choruses.”
Here’s a fun surprise that I’m very glad to let out of the bag: There is a new Hiss Golden Messenger album coming out on Friday. It’s called ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.‘ I think of it as a seasonal record. I started work on this record, in my way, around this time last year when I went into a big box store to pick up some wrapping paper and was struck by how dissonant the overhyped, aggressive holiday music sounded in the midst of so much collective chaos and grief. I wanted to try to make something that felt more resonant with this time of year, something lush, bittersweet, meditative. Some of the songs I wrote myself; some are songs that I love by Spiritualized, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Woody Guthrie; some are old gospel hymns. I’m thankful to Merge Records and everyone that came with me on this trip and trusted me to make something deep.
The record turned out even more beautifully than I dared to hope, and that is down to the many incredible players and singers that gave themselves to this music. The deluxe version of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ includes and fully reimagined, chopped and dubbed version of the album by Cameron Ralston, my partner in Revelators (which you’ll hear more about soon), entitled ‘The Sounding Joy.’ The artwork was created by Struggle Inc. and the photographs were taken by Chris Frisina.
Comes with bonus dub LP The Sounding Joy: Hiss Golden Messenger Meets Revelators on South Robinson Street
The Fat Angel Sings 