A vehicle for singer/songwriter Michael Taylor (aka M.C. Taylor) and multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Scott Hirsch, Hiss Golden Messenger's fusion of classic rock, folk-pop, and sparse blues in various guises has seen Taylor compared to the likes of lo-fi legends Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Bill Callahan. While one of Taylor's first statements as Hiss Golden Messenger, 2010's Bad Debt, was a stark, home-recorded voice-and-guitar session, most of the work he created with Hirsch was more ambitious, blending a range of roots music flavors with the emotional palette of Taylor's songwriting, swinging from introspection to giddy joy, with 2013's Haw and 2021's Quietly Blowing It and O Come All Ye Faithful documenting him at his most expressive.