Search Results for:
PHOSPHORESCENT
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- LP
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC113LP
- Release date
- 9 Sep '99
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- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC113CD
- Release date
- 5 Oct '18
A lot of life was lived between these records: Houck became a father (twice), built his studio, escaped New York. And C’est La Vie does have a hefty, career-spanning feel. But there’s a newfound wisdom, too, a deeper well for all that livin’. The magic of Matthew Houck’s music has always been the way he weaves shimmering, almost golden-sounding threads through elemental, salt-of-the-earth sounds. It’s not experimental, exactly, but it’s singular and it’s definitely not traditional. That knack, the through-line across the Phosphorescent catalogue, is front and centre here.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Even just listening to the title track alone gives you a decent impression of quite how stunning this collection is, shining and rich with orchestral instrumentation, heart-wrenching lyrics and twinkling synth pads. Think classic rock with a modern twist, a slightly smaller-scale War On Drugs or a less crap U2. Proper lovely.TRACK LISTING
Black Moon / Silver Waves
C'est La Vie No.2
New Birth In New England
There From Here
Around The Horn
Christmas Down Under
My Beautiful Boy
These Rocks
Black Waves / Silver Moon
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- LP
- £13.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC050LP
- Release date
- 18 Mar '13
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- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC050CD
- Release date
- 18 Mar '13
Matthew Houck, for he is Phosphorescent, likes to work. The Alabama native, now resident in Brooklyn has delivered five albums as Phosphorescent since his 2003 debut. Houck has a highly distinctive artistic voice, but also a refreshing, rolled-sleeves approach to his expression, and if he had his way, he'd have twice as many albums under his belt by now. The singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer is envious of the time when prolificacy was expected. "In the '60s and '70s, they were making artists crank out records every six months. With guys like Waylon Jennings, John Prine and even Dylan, I don't think those records would have gotten made in today's climate, because now you're allowed – or even required – to make a grand statement. I have this ideal – and I know it's not possible, because of the way the industry works – of making a record every year."
Houck may not have managed that, but still has an impressive output – one born of commitment and his soul's need to have its say. It was 2007's Pride – a delicate and spare, haunted and haunting work of ragged country, bittersweet southern gospel and forlorn folk-ish drone – that first caused ears to swivel appreciatively in Phosphorescent's direction. He followed it with To Willie, a tribute to country legend Willie Nelson, then 2010's Here's To Taking It Easy, an unapologetically enthusiastic plunge into country rock and rolling Americana. Now, his sixth album flashes yet another colour in the subtly shifting Phosphorescent spectrum.
Muchacho reprises the understated melancholia and sensuous minimalism of Pride, while kicking up a little of Here's To Taking It Easy's dust, but it also strikes out into more adventurous waters via rhythm and electronic textures. It took shape if not quite by accident, then partly as a result of events beyond Houck's control. After spending the best part of 18 months touring his last record, Houck was, in his words "pretty fried." In late 2011, he returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard studio where he'd recorded his previous two albums, planning "on taking this whole thing down a few notches. I wanted to make music," he explains, "but I was weary, so the spectre of putting anything out and getting back on the road was a bit of a block." In December, he bought a load of old analogue gear and "just starting playing around with it, making these noises. They weren't songs, they were just strange sound pieces. I've always had that element in my work, and one or two weird, ambient pieces seem to squeeze themselves onto every record, but suddenly I was doing a lot of those." Houck also turned into a bit of DIY electrician, since a lot of the vintage gear needed fixing. "I ended up spending a lot of time learning about stuff like impedance matching and ohms," he laughs. "I really got quite nerdy about how it all worked."
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- CD
- £8.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC025CD
- Release date
- 10 May '10
Just 20 seconds into the new Phosphorescent album, you hear something so immediate, so purposeful, so damn infectious, it's clear that something special is underway. The first album of original material since 2007's "Pride" captures the band moving into a truly extraordinary place. "Here's to Taking It Easy" is the culmination of the past three years: a grand statement, the album we dreamed Phosphorescent would make.
"Pride" was a deeply personal, haunting record that Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck recorded on his own, playing all of the instruments himself. 2009's "To Willie" (their tribute to Willie Nelson) featured Houck joined by his bandmates, rambling through the Nelson catalog with fifths of whiskey and undeniable swagger. So if "Pride" was built for 5AM and "To Willie" sounded just right as last call approached, where does "Here's To Taking It Easy" fit? This is the Phosphorescent record made for any time, any season.
Featuring the current live incarnation of Phosphorescent (Scott Stapleton, piano; Jeff Bailey, bass; Chris Marine, drums; Jesse Anderson Ainslie, guitar; Ricky Ray Jackson, pedal steel), "Here's To Taking It Easy" is the new Cosmic American Music. Recorded in the band's hometown of Brooklyn with outside mixing assistance from Stuart Sikes (White Stripes, Cat Power, Loretta Lynn, the Walkmen), this album breathes with life like nothing Phosphorescent has ever done before. "We'll Be Here Soon" and "Hej, Me I'm Light" hint at the narcotic haze of "Pride", while anthems like "The Mermaid Parade" and "It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)" sound perfect pumped out of the car stereo with the windows rolled down. "Heaven, Sittin' Down" recalls the country rock of "To Willie", while the stark album closer, "Los Angeles" sounds as if it was lifted from the grooves of Neil Young's On the Beach. Jam after jam, "Here's to Taking It Easy" brings everything together for Phosphorescent; a classic that could be from another era, but sounds perfect right here, right now.
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- LP
- £11.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC013LP
- Release date
- 9 Feb '09
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- CD
- £7.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DOC013CD
- Release date
- 9 Feb '09