Describing the Durham-basedHiss Golden Messengerislike trying to grasp a forgotten word: It’s always onthe tip of your tongue, but hard to speak. Songwriterand bandleader M.C. Taylor’s music is at once familiar,yet impossible to categorize: Elements from theAmerican songbook—the steady, churning acoustic guitarand mandolin, the gospel emotion, the eerie steelguitar tracings, the bobbing and weaving organand electric piano—provide the bedrock for Taylor’s existential ruminations about parenthood, joy, hope, and loneliness—our delicate, tightrope balance of darkand light—that offer fully engaged contemporary ​commentary on the present. And then there’s anindescribable spirit and movement: Hiss GoldenMessenger’s music grooves. There’s nothing else quite like it.