16-05-2010, 00:17
released May 11th, 2010
![[Image: n65941izx6a.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drn600/n659/n65941izx6a.jpg)
from the album - The Mermaid Parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8J1mK3jats
from all music
Athens, GA, resident Mathew 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.
album review
Matthew Houck may operate out of the too-cool-for-school, New York City indie rock community, but the Alabama-born mastermind behind Phosphorescent has a muse that clearly resides in warmer climates. A breezy, classic rock-tinged collection of heartbreak road ballads nursed into existence on a steady diet of the Eagles and the Band, Here's to Taking It Easy, the first Phosphorescent release to rely on musicians other than Houck, plays like a lost piece of vinyl from the early '70s. Houck is a generous, earnest songsmith, and his tales of love on the rocks (âTell Me Baby [Have You Had Enough]â), love lost (âHeaven, Sittinâ Downâ), and love of the South (âIt's Hard to Be Humble [When You're From Alabama]â) feel lived in and cared for. Even on autopilot (the slight âI Donât Care If Thereâs Cursingâ and the hippy-drippy âHej, Me Iâm Lightâ), his effortless, laid-back version of modern alt-country feels like an old friend, and the weepy, sun-drenched reverb that permeates the whole affair feels authentic rather than coerced out of a Pro Tools plug-in. The only downfall is that Here's to Taking It Easy is so easy to take that at only nine songs, it flies by in no time at all.
Track Listing
1 Itâs Hard to Be Humble (When Youâre from Alabama)
2 Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)
3 Weâll Be Here Soon
4 The Mermaid Parade
5 I Donât Care If Thereâs Cursing
6 Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)
7 Hej, Me Iâm Light
8 Heaven, Sittin Down
9 Los Angeles
from the album - The Mermaid Parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8J1mK3jats
from all music
Athens, GA, resident Mathew 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.
album review
Matthew Houck may operate out of the too-cool-for-school, New York City indie rock community, but the Alabama-born mastermind behind Phosphorescent has a muse that clearly resides in warmer climates. A breezy, classic rock-tinged collection of heartbreak road ballads nursed into existence on a steady diet of the Eagles and the Band, Here's to Taking It Easy, the first Phosphorescent release to rely on musicians other than Houck, plays like a lost piece of vinyl from the early '70s. Houck is a generous, earnest songsmith, and his tales of love on the rocks (âTell Me Baby [Have You Had Enough]â), love lost (âHeaven, Sittinâ Downâ), and love of the South (âIt's Hard to Be Humble [When You're From Alabama]â) feel lived in and cared for. Even on autopilot (the slight âI Donât Care If Thereâs Cursingâ and the hippy-drippy âHej, Me Iâm Lightâ), his effortless, laid-back version of modern alt-country feels like an old friend, and the weepy, sun-drenched reverb that permeates the whole affair feels authentic rather than coerced out of a Pro Tools plug-in. The only downfall is that Here's to Taking It Easy is so easy to take that at only nine songs, it flies by in no time at all.
Track Listing
1 Itâs Hard to Be Humble (When Youâre from Alabama)
2 Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)
3 Weâll Be Here Soon
4 The Mermaid Parade
5 I Donât Care If Thereâs Cursing
6 Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)
7 Hej, Me Iâm Light
8 Heaven, Sittin Down
9 Los Angeles