Hiss Golden Messenger Release “Cat’s Eye Blue,” Second Single off Terms of Surrender

Last month, North Carolina folk-rock band Hiss Golden Messenger announced their latest full-length project Terms of Surrender with a moving celebration of their home state’s school employee protests, “I Need a Teacher.” Now frontman M.C. Taylor turns away from public advocacy and towards private mysticism on the new album’s second single, “Cat’s Eye Blue.”

As the band’s quasi-religious name indicates, Hiss Golden Messenger have never shied away from a deep-seated spirituality in their music. Their last album was called Hallelujah Anyhow, and angels have been known to crop up in their lyric sheets. “Cat’s Eye Blue” has a cryptic title (does it refer to the gemstone, flower, or a cat’s literal blue eyes?) befitting its equally inscrutable lyrics. “Cat’s eye blue sky, let go / Let the light of the moon open your eyes,” Taylor sings as a refrain, winking at pantheism. The ambient production incorporates field recordings of crickets and dripping water, with the only moving thing in the stillness a steady, hollow-sounding backbeat. The song doesn’t build to an epiphany; rather, it captures the first step of revelation, the heightened state of awareness that comes with quiet nights in lonely places. Muhammad in his cave; St. Anthony in his desert.