Muchacho
by Phosphorescent

From RockyRaccoon TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/09/2013 19:54 | #80723 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This album is the result of a grueling amount of crap that Matthew Houck (aka Phosphorescent) had to go through following the release of “Here’s To Taking It Easy". According to him, he lost his girlfriend, was worn down by the road, and lost his place in New York. It had worn him down to almost nothing, and often times, that’s when an artist’s best work can come. This album is excellent, really drawing on an indie folk/alternate country kind of feel. There’s lots to it, Houck’s voice in layer upon layer on songs like “Sun Arise!" and the closing “Sun Arising". There’s also some beautiful songwriting here, best exemplified in “Song For Zula", a deep song observing love. It’s got its upbeat songs too, like “A Charm, A Blade" and “Terror In The Canyons (The Wounded Master)". This album has a little bit of everything, it’s great. Kind of sounds like if Bright Eyes went in a more country direction.

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/13/2017 20:31 | #192537 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Of all Matthew Houck's indie folk releases under the Phosphorescent moniker, Muchacho is by far the most consistent, and the one on which his vocals are an asset rather than an early Will Oldham-esque distraction. "Song for Zula" is the album's high point, and it is genuinely lovely and affecting, one of the most heartbreaking songs of the new millenium. When Houck sings, "I will not open myself up this way again," I sense the pain underlying his words; I believe him. As Jayson Greene wrote for Pitchfork, "It’s a simple sentiment, pitched somewhere south of Zen koan and just north of heartland-rock cliche, and it maps out the coordinates of Houck’s world: It’s a place where well-worn sounds are the most beloved, where ideas and poses are settled into like old chairs. On Muchacho, Houck invests this world with new beauty and profundity."

From dfulfo01 08/28/2013 03:19 | #84667 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

this album didnt strike me as anything spectacular initially, but after some time it has really grown on me. It really is a beautiful album.

I cant stand this album. I don't know what drugs pitchfork has been taking lately but it must be some heavy shit.

From ShaneSpear TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/09/2013 17:07 | #72216 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Song for Zula is very good, and there's flashes of fun elsewhere on the album, but on the whole it can be very boring at times. You're probably well served with similar yet better albums like Alt-J's album from last year or Bright Eyes' Lifted.