Too many videos try too hard to capture their song’s aesthetic and wind up falling flat; the disconnect between the visual and audible renders the former meaningless beyond its promotional purpose. We should’ve known, though, that the video for Hiss Golden Messenger’s beautiful “Blue Country Mystic” – from the band’s fourth and latest, LP, Poor Moon — would turn out every bit as honest and sublime as the song. From the opening shots of leader M.C. Taylor and his young son Elijah to the Joe Higgs’ cap-nod on the turntable (hence this song’s syncopated beat), this video embodies the song’s take-joy-in-simple-things aesthetic. Linked by impressionist images – a glass skylight, an escalator light, puffs of cirrus clouds, passing trains — during the intro, bridge and outro, we catch glimpses of inner city kids shooting hoops, families on the Metro, fathers and sons flying kites, a Ferris wheel turning at dusk. Imagination will fill in your specific memories. Then, as the outro kicks in and the organs and guitars sparkle like fireworks over the drums’ high-hat ride, we find ourselves on the road, through Tule fog and past barren hills, past Jesus and the lamb, and into the eye of a gathering storm. The music acknowledges the coming darkness, but in doing so performs its balm-like role. Mystical stuff, as promised. –John Schacht