Hiss Golden Messenger - From Country Hai East Cotton

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 31 Mar, 2011.

I think Business Lady really hit the mark when she compared elements of this chap's last record to a hybrid of Lambchop & Prince. It sounds awful to me actually but I think it helps that HGM make music that is both classy & accomplished. It's not hugely my bag this style but there's been an undeniably enormous amount of love & hard work gone into this record. It's a very richly detailed album of languorous west-coast pop, shimmering Americana, folksy psychedelia & organic 70s soul. MC Taylor sounds totally at ease & genuine in his quest to make a passionately constructed & involving sound-world. There's interesting noodles & fascinating flourishes aplenty & the whole thing has a warm & dynamic production that oozes absolute quality. It unbelievably transcends being anything like the total muso retro-fest it suggests though his influences from Steely Dan, Al Green to Fleetwood Mac are quite apparent. An impressive sounding & timeless record, I can't quite believe how much I like it!

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• Following on from the widely praised ‘Bad Debt’ EP, the much hyped Hiss Golden Messenger deliver another set of mouth watering heavy hitters with the ‘From Country Hai East Cotton’ mini album.
• Introducing MC Taylor’s accomplished talent for arrangement and production, ‘From Country Hai East Cotton’ finds Taylor’s peerless songs augmented by lush orchestration and a full band line up.
• Soulful and deep, a vast range of influences are distilled into a compelling blend that points directly to classic status. Described by Uncut as “North Carolina’s new folk star”, immediate touchstones for ‘From Country Hai East Cotton’ include Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, Al Green, Traffic and Steely Dan, and Taylor now seems set to step up next to Bill Callahan, Will Oldham and Iron And Wine in the pantheon of alt-country and Americana royalty.