Hiss Golden Messenger Finds Their Happy Place, Sort Of, with 'Jump For Joy'

Hiss Golden Messenger is a band known for their introspective and atmospheric songs. Songs about love lost and hard lives. Jump For Joy, as you might surmise from the album's title, isn't one of those. Instead, it's the most positive and up tempo release of the band's career, though one with barbs hidden underneath the surface.

The highlight of the album, both musically and as an upbeat manifesto, is single “NuGrape.” Featuring help from vocalists Aoife O'Donovan and Amy Helm, “NuGrape” is a perfect encapsulation of a surprising album. “I'm just a nail in the house of the universe,” vocalist and primary songwriter MC Taylor belts with just the right amount of soul. The single also features a hilarious music video that sees Hiss sell out to the “Ol' Grape” company, culminating in Taylor performing in a Fruit of the Loom-style grape costume while being insulted as a sellout by his audience.

Another album spotlight is “I Saw the New Day in the World.” With a driving, almost disco-tinged, beat, Taylor channels his inner '70s pop star. But this is one of the best chances to see the teeth as well as he croons “One trick pony changes / One, four, five rearrange it / Turn me into glue now / Use me to build the next one.” But, of course, that's to be expected of Hiss Golden Messenger, especially when the song immediately preceding that one, “20 Years and a Nickel,” kicks off the album with “There's no such thing as a simple song / I'm convinced of it / I should know.”

But it's not all bait and switch on Jump For Joy. Some of the songs really are just that catchy. “Shinbone, for instance, is the album's most fun song, something even the band seems surprised by, as the song begins “Woke up this morning / God, I felt happy- what a strange sensation.” Taylor later laments that he could “do something bigger” before settling in with “you go where you're called.”

There are twists and turns throughout Jump For Joy that keeps the listener guessing at every lyric. It somehow manages to be a fun album, a smart album, and a groovy album at the same time. And sometimes, that's all you need to get through the day.