The cover art for Hiss Golden Messenger’s latest album, Jump for Joy, is in black and white, but it beams with hopeful and nostalgic happiness. As bandleader and songwriter M.C Taylor puts it, “It’s a sun-in-your-eyes feeling—that ambiguous joy and excitement for whatever is on the horizon.”
The photo looks like it was torn from a family scrapbook: two siblings, relaxed on a wooden deck, caught mid-laughter as the rays beat down on their faces. It’s an effervescent feeling that Taylor says captures the “emotional tenor” of Jump for Joy.
Jump for Joy is a significant departure from 2021’s introspective record, Quietly Blowing It. Taylor describes his previous album as feeling “a little troubled…, which is understandable considering the time period during which it was written and the state of the world at that particular time.”
Taylor still loves Quietly Blowing It, but he didn’t “want to make another record that feels that internal.” Instead, Jump For Joy weaves a story of optimism and celebration, largely inspired by moments in Taylor’s life.
This is really evident on the track “Jesus is Bored,” a song that explores what it feels like to be a teenager through the eyes of Taylor’s son. You can practically smell the “tangerine moon over Texas” and feel the raw, unbridled energy of a 16-year-old plugging in his amp before soundcheck.
“That song is really one of the hinges of the record,” Taylor says. Even though it’s written about both his younger self and his teenage son, Taylor says there are still so many elements that resonate with his current-day life. “There’s a certain exuberance to that particular song, a certain excitement about travel and being with friends and making music…that hasn’t really worn off for me.”
Hiss Golden Messenger recorded Jump For Joy at the legendary music studio, Sonic Ranch. Nestled on a 17,000-acre pecan orchard between Mexico and the Rio Grande, this West Texas recording studio is known for its creative mystery. The band lived there for two weeks while crafting the record, and not surprisingly, Sonic Ranch’s otherworldly energy weaved its way into the sound.
“The spirit in that place felt very thick,” Taylor says. “And I…feel like that’s part of the vibe of Jump for Joy—a sort of spirit world.”
This energy seems fitting for a Hiss Golden Messenger album. As a whole, the band seamlessly creates an Americana sound that’s both grounded and celestial.
“[Spirituality] definitely is a big part of all my records, though I couldn’t explain what my spiritual position is,” Taylor says. But he adds, “The more time I spend in these unknowable places…, the more I feel like there is a spirit component to the kind of work that I do that I’m always trying to invoke because it feels powerful.”
Twinges of gospel ring through “Nu-Grape,” a jubilant tune that examines the futility of trying to create something permanent. As Taylor croons, “I’m just a nail in the house of the universe,” Aoife O’Donovan and Amy Helm’s warm harmonies coat your ears like honey. “Don’t cry, it’s only a joke,” Taylor sings—the album is called Jump for Joy, after all.
After the final note of “Nu-Grape” rings out, Taylor flips the script. Driving guitars roll in. Pulsing drums push forward. Rather than sardonically lamenting life’s impermanence, “Feeling Eternal” investigates all of the things that make Taylor feel invincible.
“There’s a bit of time-flattening happening in that song,” Taylor says. “Music makes me feel eternal. When I was searching for some kind of belief system in the howl of broken amplifiers is the same way that music makes me feel today.”
Between these autobiographical vignettes are short soundscapes that act as the album’s “connective tissue.” The 29-second interlude, “Palo Santo Cloud Mesa,” weaves through the speakers like incense floating through the air. Tinny piano mixes with idle chatter until static carries it away. It lets the listener sink in and take a breath before drinking in the next melody.
The album ends with “Sunset on the Faders,” a poetic lyric-driven song that celebrates what happens on stage. Throughout the track, Taylor refers to a “dead language.” For him, it’s both a tongue-in-cheek way to describe music played “on instruments that are made from wood and wires” and “an arcane language that is full of symbols and mystery.”
Jump for Joy often feels more like a question, rather than an answer—an ever-persistent quest to understand a little better, think a little deeper.
“I feel like there is something really holy at work when I’m on a stage playing music,” Taylor says. “Every time I have that really profound sense of transcendence when I’m playing music and I step out of it after, I always think ‘this has to be what people that talk about being in the presence of the lord are talking about.’ That’s where I’m trying to work.”
Jump For Joy is out August 25 via Merge Records
