Hiss Golden Messenger: Hallelujah Anyhow review – rapturous country-soul

The second album in 12 months by MC Taylor’s Hiss Golden Messenger is shot through with both darkness and light. From the heady opener Jenny of the Roses (“I’ve never been afraid of the darkness”) to the closing When the Wall Comes Down, there are several allusions to the dark, while Taylor’s mystical brand of country-soul has a rapturous quality rarely found in rock. It’s there in Jaw, one of the gentler tracks, all fidgety rhythms and Taylor’s husky voice, and in the aching Gulfport You’ve Been on My Mind. But every song possesses passion and gravitas, making Hallelujah Anyhow a spiritual descendant of Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece.