Hiss Golden Messenger

Terms Of Surrender Aaron Dessner-produced eighth album for North Carolina’s troubled soul. It’s been a tough year for Hiss Golden Messenger’s MC Taylor, not that the swelling, rolling country-rock sound of his latest long-player reveals his suffering from depression straightaway. But delve into the lyrics, sung in Taylor’s throaty drawl, and you’ll find him asking real-life wife Abigail to “bite my nails” (Old Enough To Wonder Why), crying out “Rock me, daddy, happiness ain’t free” (I Need A Teacher) and laying out his desires unapologetically on Cat’s Eye Blue (“We lost something, babe/So only come if you wanna/Make me work for it, babe, I’m not getting any younger”). Written in motel rooms, Taylor’s home studio and a secluded cottage in the Virginia countryside,

Terms Of Surrender presents a man sinking on the edges but bullishly so, not countenancing change. The effect is disquieting, uncomfortable, especially with Aaron Dessner’s sumptuous production giving these songs a contrastingly romantic sheen. Jude Rogers