The Fat Angel Sings

Lateness of Dancers: Under the Hiss Golden Messenger banner, songwriter M.C. Taylor has committed to tape one of the most affecting and emotionally resonant catalogs of the 2010s. “Lateness of Dancers”, named for a Eudora Welty story, might be his most generous LP yet, tender, open, and deeply funky. There are strains of the Band, J.J. Cale, and Van Morrison in the grooves of songs like “Lucia,” “I’m a Raven (Shake Children)” and “Black Dog Wind,” but Taylor and company (fine company, it should be noted, including members of Megafaun, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig of Mountain Man, guitarist William Tyler, and Scott Hirsch) do more than emulate; they synthesize funk, reggae, American blues and folk, creating a sumptuous vehicle for Taylor’s humanistic musings, his reflections on duty, on family, and digging deep for any salvation that can be scrounged up.