​Hiss Golden Messenger (from the Oh, Come All Ye Faithful

​Hiss Golden Messenger (from the Oh, Come All Ye Faithful available on Merge Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Your holiday soundtrack is not all post-war classics. With their latest, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, indie musicians like North Carolina Folkies Hiss Golden Messenger continue to offer a twist on the end of the year soundtrack through the penning of new tunes while also covering holiday classics. They do so with pals, as Aoife O’Donovan, Nathaniel Rateliff, Erin Rae, and Buddy Miller all lending a hand to this subtle and sweet end-of-the-year holiday recording that has a load of instruments; quiet and quaint, horns, keys and pedal steel guitar push out holiday tunes with grace and style.
Oh Come All Ye Faithful starts sad. “Hung Fire” opens the album with the line ‘things were bad if we’re being honest’ before the repeated ‘it’s Christmas baby, I’m glad we made it’ while “Grace” offers up some hope, lyrics that offer a candle for the poets, teachers, and other souls trying their best to do some good in the world. The familiar is not completely omitted with the “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” title track and “Joy to the World” simple and straightforward while ambient pedal steel gives “Silent Night” an air of the unfamiliar through the musical liberties taken. Spiritualized “Shine A Light” is covered as a hushed Gospel number, more liberties taken as Woody Guthrie’s “Hanukkah Dance” gets an Indie R&B push, and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “As Long As I Can See The Light” is as heavy as the original. This is a twist on the end of the year soundtrack, a record for people that love the holiday and hate the repeated and familiar hype. (by Bryant Liggett)
Listen and buy the music of Hiss Golden Messenger from AMAZON
 
For more information, please visit the Hiss Golden Messenger website

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