While many an artist has been compared to Jason Isbell in the last four years, surely Sean McConnell has earned that nod more than most with his raspy vocals and shoot-em dead lyrics. Yet behind that edge is a melodic whimsicality that gels with Hiss Golden Messenger’s enigmatic talent of matching hummable music for dark times. Check out the video for the jubilant “What the Hell Is Wrong With Me” (Feat. Fancy Hagood)” below that shows McConnell doing what he does and best and proves to be a new vital voice in the Americana scene.
Tapping into the broad spectrum of our human emotions and observations is what makes McConnell such a versatile collaborator and sought-after songsmith over the years. He recognizes the dichotomy of “both/and” rather than just “either/or” not only in his personal life, but his creative one as well.
“I do like to find a common thread in the records that I make, not that it’s so strict that it becomes a concept record,” Sean notes. “The title encapsulates the dichotomy of just being alive, of there being so many beautiful, amazing things.
“I can be holding my daughter, looking at her and feeling so overwhelmed with joy to be with her here,” he says. “Then in the next moment, experiencing the profound fear of losing her or losing someone I love.
“We can look at the suffering of the world and the beauty of the world and hold them in our hands and just be present with it all, not forcing ourselves to try to understand it or anything else. It’s just, ‘this is what this is.’ I think that a lot of the songs speak to that.”
It’s an artistic and heart-filled approach to viewing the world that McConnell admits started to coalesce on his previous project Secondhand Smoke, and makes manifest on A Horrible Beautiful Dream.
“My songs were starting to venture into the grit, the gray area of just trying to be okay with not having all the answers,” McConnell says. “In fact, we have very little of the answers and we have even less control than we ever thought we did.
“Instead of that being a bad thing, finding some sort of weird peace in that it kind of takes the pressure off your shoulders in a way.”
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One Response
Love my Sean!! Always wanted to know what happened to sweet baby James!! Now I see. He’s hopping right along!! Love you guys always