Hiss Golden Messenger, 'Hung Fire'

By Kara Frame

Published December 24, 2021 at 8:01 AM EST

As we near the year's end, #NowPlaying recommends songs that slipped through the cracks, but remain in our headphones.

Music is our favorite gauge of the times we're living through, and Hiss Golden Messenger's O Come All Ye Faithful is one heck of a barometer. The album opener, "Hung Fire," paints a picture of a year that was a challenge to get through. Written in the autumn of 2020, the words are hauntingly accurate in December 2021. "It's Christmas, baby, thank God we made it," frontman M.C Taylor sings, his voice harmonizing effortlessly with light piano and soft horns as he delivers lyrics lamenting life in the current climate.

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Kara Frame

Kara Frame is a video producer for NPR and pursues personal projects in her free time. She most often produces for NPR's explainer series, "Let's Talk: Big Stories, Told Simply." She's crafted stories about housing segregation in Baltimore, MD; motherhood in a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece; and food deserts in Washington, DC. Frame enjoys a break from the news when filming the Tiny Desk Concerts.

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