On November 2, Hiss Golden Messenger will release Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirits and Children, a limited-edition deluxe box set which includes remastered reissues of the classic Hiss albums Bad Debt, Poor Moon, and Haw as well as Virgo Fool, a rarities compilation that will only be available physically as part of this collection. Both the 4-CD and 4-LP sets are housed in a cloth-wrapped, foil-stamped slipcase and feature original iconographic artwork by Sam Smith, an exclusive foldout poster, full lyrics, and new liner notes by New Yorker writer Amanda Petrusich and MOJO editor John Mulvey. The vinyl set also includes a digital download of all tracks.

Listen to “Rock Holy” from Virgo Fool (which originally appeared on our 25th anniversary 7-inch compilation Or Thousands of Prizes), read a new interview with HGM’s M.C. Taylor in The Atlantic, and reserve your copy of Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirits and Children in the Merge store, or digitally!

“Come the brightest, brightest day, the north wind’s gonna be a friend of mine.”

What struck me about Hiss Golden Messenger—and my absorption in these early records was instantaneous—is that Taylor’s songs are completely and unfailingly honest about how stupid and frustrating it is to be a person. But then, of course, he finds magnificence anyway: “Hallelujah anyhow” is how he put it later.—Amanda Petrusich

Even on his most raw and unadorned album, Bad Debt, or on his most troubled, Haw, Taylor is still striving for that next level. Sometimes the epiphanies arrive through lyrical graft; “I’m trying to learn,” he vows, emblematically, on “Sufferer (Love My Conqueror).” Sometimes, they manifest musically, as if the collective endeavour of a band can provide consolation, for both the participants and the listeners, in even the darkest of times. It’s these imperatives, I think, that have made me turn to Hiss Golden Messenger records more than any others over the past decade; Taylor’s issues are all too understandable, but his creative solutions to them are almost mystically uplifting to a non-musician like myself. His music articulates an untethered spiritual meaning, one which can make sense to those of us who have no coherent system of belief. On these albums, you can hear a mission, a compassionate vision, being improvised and fleshed out exponentially, as Taylor’s sense of community and his place in it grows with every release. Also, they really fucking swing.—John Mulvey

Hiss Golden Messenger on tour:
Sep 20 Marfa, TX – Trans-Pecos Festival
Sep 24 Mill Valley, CA – Sweetwater Music Hall
Sep 25 Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
Sep 26 Berkeley, CA – Cornerstone Berkeley
Sep 27 Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Sep 30 Dana Point, CA – Ohana Music and Arts Festival
Oct 05 Nashville, TN – The Ryman*
Nov 16 Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre
Dec 13 Richmond, VA – The Broadberry
Dec 14 Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom
Dec 15 Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre
Dec 17 Boston, MA – The Sinclair
Dec 18 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Dec 19 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
Dec 20 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
Dec 21 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater
* w/ John Prine