Revelator Phosphorescent

Released on 1/24/24 by Verve
Main artists: Phosphorescent
Genre: Alternative & Indie
Distinctions: 4F de Télérama

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Matthew Houck—aka Phosphorescent—can really turn a phrase, as on the title song of Revelator, which opens with a great bit: "I got tired of sadness/ I got tired of all the madness/ I got tired of being a badass all the time." The vibe is dreamy, sweeping Americana, laced with a bit of Dave Rawlings-style sweetness and grit. Houck has said "It might be the best song I've ever written," and there's no reason to doubt him. It's up there with his terrific "Song for Zula," circa 2013. Evocative "Impossible House," meanwhile, is as vivid as a novel: "I seen your black limousine/ Rolling slowly through the alley/ All long and shiny and mean/ With a license plate that just says 'Nasty,'" Houck sings. It's a little John Prine and a little The National and, it's becoming clearer and clearer, very much where Phosphorescent is right now. Houck moved from New York to Nashville nearly a decade ago, and, while there has long been a twinge of country and Americana in his work, Tennessee's lifeblood has really seeped into his eighth album. "All the Same" has a twang. "Fences," which finds Houck's warm tenor cracking to a nice falsetto, features Ricky Ray Jackson on weeping-willow steel that inventively travels up and down the scale. It's like comfort food in a song. Expansive "Wide as Heaven" moves languidly, without a care in the world. Synth blinks in and out like twinkling stars and Jack Lawrence's (The Raconteurs) bass gives the song's lungs—taking in deep, meditative breaths—even as Jim White, the great drummer from Dirty Three, uses fills to coax the pace along.

It's not just Houck's writing that seems sparked on this record; his singing is better than ever, reaching deep on emotional "To Get It Right." Spurred on by rolling piano, the song opens up at the end, letting in all the sunlight and projecting its own energy right back. There are incredibly playful moments, too. "A Moon Behind the Clouds" is a light-hearted, heady surprise—sun-baked in island heat like a Florida Keys beach bum. And swaying "A Poem on the Men's Room Wall" includes the rowdy Hee-Haw lyrics: "Fear is the mind killer/ Beer is the fear killer/ This beer is killer/ Phyllis Diller is a cock thriller." But one of the most appealing things here is Houck's sincerity, which is more Cat Stevens tenderness than Father John Misty smarm. It's on full display for the loose-limbed folk-rock of "The World Is Ending," written by Houck's life and musical partner, keyboard player Jo Schornikow (who released a crackling record of her own, Altar, in 2022). It's the first Phosphorescent song from someone else, and a good argument for sharing. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Revelator

Phosphorescent

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Revelator