“an eerie yellowing photograph” by Melvin Peña

 Happy release day to Mike and the whole Hiss Golden Messenger family! The new record, “Heart Like a Levee,” is out now on Durham’s own Merge Records!

No less a luminary than David Bowie once called Hiss Golden Messenger’s music “mystical country,” synaesthetically comparing the sound to “an eerie yellowing photograph.” That may have been true of “Bad Debt” (2010) and earlier, maybe even as late as “Poor Moon” (2011), but not anymore.

Go listen to “Haw” (2013), “Lateness of Dancers” (2014), and now “Heart Like a Levee.” You’re going to find warmth, welcome, and increase of joy.

Go see Mike and the crew play when the tour comes to your town; those shows are vibrant, pulsating, and alive.

All the same, to celebrate the new record, I reinterpreted its cover art to reflect Bowie’s words on mike’s art. It’s one of the black and white photos by William Gedney which were the original springboard for the Duke Performance events last fall that gave way to the album’s creation.

Listen, buy, or stream; however you listen to music these days, spend some time with this record and enjoy it!