Muchacho
The Athens, Ga.–based singer/songwriter Matthew Houck—a.k.a. Phosphorescent—works an alt-country/indie-pop territory occupied by Bonnie \"Prince\" Billy, Shearwater, and many other acts that get weirder the closer they come to turning pro. *Muchacho* plays out like a classic breakup album, with the singing laying claim to angst by shouting the lyrics into the night sky, where they bounce off the studio reverb caught in the stars. \"Song for Zula\" is the album\'s obvious high point: a hazy, lazy melody brought to life by a stuttering rhythm and a clunky bass line that provides the pulse. \"Terror in the Canyons\" evokes a mid-\'70s country tune rewritten by Ryan Adams and performed like Adams being backed by My Morning Jacket. \"Muchacho\'s Tune\" turns in a loose, achy vocal worthy of Will Oldham. \"Sun, Arise!\" and \"Sun\'s Arising\" bracket the album with multitracked vocal weaves; they provide a spiritual vibe that\'s both rustic and modern.
On Muchacho, Matthew Houck's sixth full-length as Phosphorescent, he gathers together everything he's attempted to date-- beery, rollicking country-rock, haunted tribal hymnals, regret-soaked bar room heartbreak-- and fashions it into something close to a defining statement.
Phosphorescent’s sole proprietor, Matthew Houck, begins his sixth proper full-length album, Muchacho, with a bit of a fake-out. The ethereal album-opener, “Sun, Arise! (An Invocation, An Introduction)”—with its multi-layered harmonized vocals and burbling, bubbling keyboards bordering on space-age—indicates that…
The sixth Phosphorescent album mines a rich seam of heartache, but refuses to curl up in a heap of sobs.
Sitting down to listen to the latest from Phosphorescent, I armed myself with a blank notepad and a stack of CDs: Richard…
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.
Celebrated for his introspective, country-tinged Americana off the back of albums like 2010's Here's To Taking It Easy, Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent's fans may be surprised by the subtle shades of electronica permeating his new album Muchacho. Opening and closing themes Sun Arise! (An Invocation, An Introduction) and Sun Arising (A Koan, A Exit) set the tone, with Houck's multi-tracked voice resting on a bed of warm synth tones.
While Matthew Houck would not be strictly classified as a country musician, he's taken a wonderful lesson from country about range of emotion.
ClashMusic: Read an album review of 'Muchacho' by Phosphorescent, AKA Alabama-born Matthew Houck, "a beautiful outing in hauntingly pastoral heartbreak".