![]() She sings audaciously and not as breathily as she once did. Williamson has always had a poised delivery, but there is a breezy new confidence to her singing on Time Ain’t Accidental. Then she turned to making her own album, working with producer Brad Cook (The War on Drugs, Fenne Lily) in North Carolina. First, she joined with Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) to make the excellent album I Walked With You a Ways under the name Plains. Williamson had a longtime relationship with another musician right before Covid, and while the ensuing breakup upended many of her hopes and plans, it opened a new path forward for her. Taken together, they underscore the existential grit and elemental spirituality that illustrate Hiss Golden Messenger's best work.Jess Williamson’s last album was called Sorceress, but Time Ain’t Accidental casts a spell of its own–one of self-liberation. The songs, arrangements, and Taylor's and Hirsch's deft production are all rimmed with - not drenched in - light. Four albums in, Lateness of Dancers reveals the arrived-at maturity in Taylor's songwriting, and his ability to convey, in the first-person narratives of his protagonists, a way through the complex notions and pain of living in the world by embracing them on their own terms, with no attempt at escape. The wisdom of those teachings is illustrated fully - if not deliberately - in "Drum," the bittersweet, breezy, back-porch fiddle tune that closes the record. Its lyrics juxtapose the lessons of a father recalled in the protagonist's determination to make his own way no matter the cost. ![]() Cale - haunts the stellar "Southern Grammar." "Black Dog Wind (Rose of Roses)" is a slow country waltz. A different version of that idea - this time evocative of J.J. "I'm a Raven (Shake Children)" is a downright snaky, nearly funky blues Charles' spirit and Dylan's R&B period come wafting - though more economically - through again. A simple acoustic guitar introduces Taylor's grainy vocal in offering some of the record's finest lyrics, a piano, Sauser-Monnig's gentle backing vocal, and a subtle organ to underscore his purposeful delivery. While "Mahogany Dread" digs into the past, it celebrates the more humble present with gratitude, underscored by a sprawling B-3 and Tyler's tight, tasteful fills. Taylor's lyric is couched in reverie and symbolic mysticism, and rolls atop the center confidently. Opener "Lucia" borrows the one-two, one-two rhythmic thump so prevalent near the end of Bob Dylan's Street Legal - smearing it with Bobby Charles' greasy groove sensibilities as Tyler's wah-wah Stratocaster, distorted steel guitars, and Wurlitzer blur in the backdrop. Vocalist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig of Mountain Man and Megafaun's Phil and Brad Cook, as well as others, also appear. Guitarist William Tyler also returns and contributes considerably. Taylor is accompanied by longstanding partner and bassist Scott Hirsch (who also plays mandolin and pedal steel) and their veteran drummer Terry Lonergan. Lateness of Dancers - its title taken from a Eudora Welty story - retains that source's earthiness as it engages everything from folk, country-rock, back-country fiddle music, and even Southern R&B, the latter by way of an electric piano whose use recalls Muscle Shoals and Stax. Taylor's songwriting and vision have grown considerably since 2013's fine Haw. Lateness of Dancers, Hiss Golden Messenger's debut for Merge, is a more melodic and polished affair than we're used to it is also true that founder and songwriter M.C.
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