17-03-2013, 20:42
online listen
not a bad sound but it never changed
over produced
two tracks I liked including the clip
1.5 from me and a converted 2.4 from allmusic
web site - http://phosphorescentmusic.com/
from the album - Song For Zula
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcdOLKx2XG8
released Mar 19th, 2013
![[Image: MI0003494494.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0003/494/MI0003494494.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
Bio - from allmusic
Athens, Georgia resident Matthew Houck is the sole member of Phosphorescent. Houck's career
began in 2000 when he released the Hipolit album under the name Fillup Shack. A tour of England
and Spain followed, and while the European press drew comparisons to Bob Dylan and Will Oldham,
the London Evening Standard declared him "the most significant American in his field since Kurt
Cobain." Houck's first release as Phosphorescent, entitled A Hundred Times or More, appeared in
2003 on the Warm label. The 2004 EP The Weight of Flight was his last release for the label, as
the 2005 full-length Aw Come Aw Wry landed on Misra. Two years later the release of Pride began
a relationship with the Dead Oceans imprint. To Willie, Phosphorescent's tribute to Willie
Nelson, arrived in early 2009, followed by the all-new Here's to Taking it Easy in 2010. In
2013, after extensive international touring, Houck released his sixth album, Muchacho,
returning somewhat to the more experimental textures of Pride.
Album Review - from allmusic
Under the name Phosphorescent, indie country songwriter Matthew Houck has walked a drunken
path, wobbling closer to the indie side on some records and slumping more toward the country
side on others, with the best example being his 2009 collection of Willie Nelson covers, To
Willie. With sixth album Muchacho, Houck returns to some of the experimental textures that
marked his early breakthrough album Pride, weaving ambient tones and feral whoops throughout
his sometimes shiny, sometimes grizzled Americana. The album is bookended by tracks "Sun,
Arise!" and "Sun's Arising," meditative drones with multi-tracked layers of Houck harmonizing
with himself, ushering the listener into and out of the record over arpeggiated synth tones and
far-off-sounding instrumentation. There's more implementation of electronic instruments here
than most Phosphorescent material that came before, with 808 drum patterns and dubby echoes in
the forefront on some songs, but at no point does the songwriting surrender the starring role.
Whether the tunes are piling on pedal steel and mariachi trumpet in the vein of Dylan's
soundtrack work for Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, as on the honky tonk hoedown of "A Charm/A
Blade," or finding some dreamy Will Oldham/early Animal Collective hybrid, as with the ghostly
"The Quotidian Beasts," Houck's use of simplistic but haunting chord progressions and world-
weary melodies always overrides any other sonic surroundings. The songs here are so strong, in
fact, they're sometimes cluttered by excessive instrumentation or detail-burying production.
While the atmospheric string loops and delay-doused bass plucks of "Song for Zula" help make it
one of the best tracks on the album, one can't help but wonder what the effect would be if it
were stripped down to Houck's damaged vocals and a simple guitar or piano figure. Throughout
the album, lyrics peek through the waves like "I will not open myself up this way again" and
"Hey can this kill me? I don't know, but I've sure been finding out," hinting at heartache and
the possibility that Muchacho is some drunken-hearted breakup record, but it's never made
abundantly clear. What is clear, even through the sometimes heavier-than-necessary
arrangements, is that Muchacho has some of Houck's best songwriting since his early days,
seemingly tapped into the grainy pain, hard-living tendencies, and wandering muse of his
subconscious with the most listenable results Phosphorescent has produced in years.
Track Listing
1. Sun Arise
2. Song For Zula
3. Ride On/Right On
4. Terror In The Canyons
5. A Charm/A Blade
6. Muchacho's Tune
7. A New Anhedonia
8. The Quotidian Beasts
9. Down To Go
10. Sun's Arising
not a bad sound but it never changed
over produced
two tracks I liked including the clip
1.5 from me and a converted 2.4 from allmusic
web site - http://phosphorescentmusic.com/
from the album - Song For Zula
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcdOLKx2XG8
released Mar 19th, 2013
Bio - from allmusic
Athens, Georgia resident Matthew Houck is the sole member of Phosphorescent. Houck's career
began in 2000 when he released the Hipolit album under the name Fillup Shack. A tour of England
and Spain followed, and while the European press drew comparisons to Bob Dylan and Will Oldham,
the London Evening Standard declared him "the most significant American in his field since Kurt
Cobain." Houck's first release as Phosphorescent, entitled A Hundred Times or More, appeared in
2003 on the Warm label. The 2004 EP The Weight of Flight was his last release for the label, as
the 2005 full-length Aw Come Aw Wry landed on Misra. Two years later the release of Pride began
a relationship with the Dead Oceans imprint. To Willie, Phosphorescent's tribute to Willie
Nelson, arrived in early 2009, followed by the all-new Here's to Taking it Easy in 2010. In
2013, after extensive international touring, Houck released his sixth album, Muchacho,
returning somewhat to the more experimental textures of Pride.
Album Review - from allmusic
Under the name Phosphorescent, indie country songwriter Matthew Houck has walked a drunken
path, wobbling closer to the indie side on some records and slumping more toward the country
side on others, with the best example being his 2009 collection of Willie Nelson covers, To
Willie. With sixth album Muchacho, Houck returns to some of the experimental textures that
marked his early breakthrough album Pride, weaving ambient tones and feral whoops throughout
his sometimes shiny, sometimes grizzled Americana. The album is bookended by tracks "Sun,
Arise!" and "Sun's Arising," meditative drones with multi-tracked layers of Houck harmonizing
with himself, ushering the listener into and out of the record over arpeggiated synth tones and
far-off-sounding instrumentation. There's more implementation of electronic instruments here
than most Phosphorescent material that came before, with 808 drum patterns and dubby echoes in
the forefront on some songs, but at no point does the songwriting surrender the starring role.
Whether the tunes are piling on pedal steel and mariachi trumpet in the vein of Dylan's
soundtrack work for Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, as on the honky tonk hoedown of "A Charm/A
Blade," or finding some dreamy Will Oldham/early Animal Collective hybrid, as with the ghostly
"The Quotidian Beasts," Houck's use of simplistic but haunting chord progressions and world-
weary melodies always overrides any other sonic surroundings. The songs here are so strong, in
fact, they're sometimes cluttered by excessive instrumentation or detail-burying production.
While the atmospheric string loops and delay-doused bass plucks of "Song for Zula" help make it
one of the best tracks on the album, one can't help but wonder what the effect would be if it
were stripped down to Houck's damaged vocals and a simple guitar or piano figure. Throughout
the album, lyrics peek through the waves like "I will not open myself up this way again" and
"Hey can this kill me? I don't know, but I've sure been finding out," hinting at heartache and
the possibility that Muchacho is some drunken-hearted breakup record, but it's never made
abundantly clear. What is clear, even through the sometimes heavier-than-necessary
arrangements, is that Muchacho has some of Houck's best songwriting since his early days,
seemingly tapped into the grainy pain, hard-living tendencies, and wandering muse of his
subconscious with the most listenable results Phosphorescent has produced in years.
Track Listing
1. Sun Arise
2. Song For Zula
3. Ride On/Right On
4. Terror In The Canyons
5. A Charm/A Blade
6. Muchacho's Tune
7. A New Anhedonia
8. The Quotidian Beasts
9. Down To Go
10. Sun's Arising
