Hiss Golden Messenger — the long-running project of North Carolina singer-songwriter MC Taylor — has shared “Shaky Eyes,” the second single from his forthcoming album I’m People, due May 1st via Chrysalis Records. The track arrives with a new video, which you can watch below.
When KLOF Mag announced I’m People alongside lead single “In The Middle Of It” back in February, Taylor painted a vivid picture of an album grappling with the contradictions of American life — hope and heartbreak, solitude and community, shedding old skin while rummaging through the scrap heaps of the heart. “Shaky Eyes” deepens that picture – featuring soulful vocals and rootsy guitar picking, it’s about finding beauty and humanity in life’s everyday struggles, while gambling on the possibility of change.
Where “In The Middle Of It” channelled the mythology of the desert Southwest, “Shaky Eyes” turns westward to Taylor’s native California. It’s a song steeped in big skies and lingering memory, the kind of landscape that makes you feel, in Taylor’s words, “small and ambiguous.”
Reflecting on the track, Taylor says:
“Do we stick with the sure bet? Or, do we gamble on possibility, never knowing how winning is apt to change things we never even considered? Or: Do we drift in the in-between? I grew up in California and big western skies are something that color my dreams still. They make me feel small and ambiguous, and they feel like home. This song is indebted — in title if nothing else — to Lou Mathews’ novel Shaky Town, a piece of work that feels Los Angeles, the Southland, deeply and lovingly. This tune was also written in Santa Fe under a neon mezcal moon.”
I’m People was co-produced by Taylor and Josh Kaufman at Dreamland, a converted church in upstate New York, and features contributions from Bruce Hornsby, Sam Beam, Marcus King, Sara Watkins, and Amy Helm, among others. A full U.S. tour follows this autumn.
Pre-Order/Save “I’m People” (May 1st via Chrysalis Records): https://ffm.hissgoldenmessenger.com/imp.OPR
Hiss Golden Messenger Tour Dates:
Thu. Sept. 24 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Fri. Sept. 25 – Beaver Creek, CO @ Vilar Performing Arts Center
Sat. Sept. 26 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
Tue. Sept. 29 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
Fri. Oct. 2 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
Tue. Oct. 6 – Healdsburg, CA @ Little Saint
Fri. Oct. 9 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
Sat. Oct. 10 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
Sun. Oct. 11 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
Wed. Oct. 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Icehouse
Fri. Oct. 16 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House
Sat. Oct. 17 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Sun. Oct. 18 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Wed. Nov. 4 – Ardmore, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall
Thu. Nov. 5 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theatre
Fri. Nov. 6 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Sat. Nov. 7 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Mon. Nov. 9 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Wed. Nov. 11 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
Thu. Nov. 12 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. Nov. 13 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
Sat. Nov. 14 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
Wed. Nov. 18 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry
Thu. Nov. 19 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
Sat. Nov. 21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Sun. Nov. 22 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle