Matthew Houck seems to be a pretty reserved guy, chuckling softly and giving a lot of short answers. Going by the stage name of Phosphorescent, it would appear the singer-songwriter’s gentle disposition is appropriate to his rather quiet but steady rise to fame – he’d released five albums and an EP before 2013’s critically acclaimedMuchacho, and we’re really only just talking about him now.
Still, for those who’ve listened closely to this latest release, Houck’s reserved nature might appear contradictory, since so many of the tracks on the album are deeply personal.
The Alabama native is talking to the BRAG from his studio in Brooklyn. It’s a small room (“You know how New York is,” he says), and he’s surrounded by some working but mostly busted gear. Busted, he explains, from touring like an absolute madman. Houck has been on the road with very few breaks for nearly a decade. “I’d like to move around more, actually,” he says. “I’m lucky that I’ve been on the road so much the past eight years, so you do a lot of travelling, but I would like the opportunity to live in other places.”
Where would he move to? “I dunno yet, maybe Australia,” he says with an audible grin, looking forward to his visit here in December.
Phosphorescent’s latest album carries a noticeable shift in sound from Houck’s previous records – easier country drifts that could be attributed to his growing up in a tiny Alabama town, population 600 – to something a lot more sonically varied. “I’ve learned a lot about the possibilities of what you can do technically with records and recording,” he says. “Whereas I think early on, it was simply just hit ‘record’.”
As Houck’s lyrical catalogue is so personal, he says he’s always been a reasonably solitary songwriter. He’s even said in the past that there are songs on Muchacho so personal he’s “mortified [he’s] even singing them”.
“I’m very protective of the initial songs,” he says. “I’m not really comfortable sharing them right away. I’ve never been able to share an unfinished song to work on it with somebody else. What I try to do is hopefully take that kernel and make something that isn’t just about what I was initially thinking about, and turn it into something broader. That’s the whole reason this thing is called Phosphorescent.”
The technicalities of his name are probably worth explaining here, and the definition makes you realise how deep this guy really is. Phosphorescence is a type of photoluminescence, but unlike others it doesn’t immediately re-emit the light it absorbs; rather, it emits light slowly over time and at a lower intensity. Glow-in-the-dark toys and clock dials are good examples. So Houck’s moniker is in itself a personal reflection.
Track two on Muchacho and the first single from the album is certainly one of the darker songs. Drawing on combined prompts from Bette Midler and Johnny Cash, ‘Song For Zula’ stands out also as one of the more personal tracks on the record, with the lyrics: “See, honey, I saw love / You see, it came to me / It put its face up to my face so I could see / Yeah, then I saw love disfigure me / Into something I am not recognising”. The identity of Zula, however, is something Houck’s keeping close to his chest – not only due to privacy, but also to ensure the lyrics stay open to interpretation.
“That’s been a really heart-warming surprise to see that song do what it’s done,” says Houck. “If I were to be too specific about who Zula is, it kind of closes a lot of doors about what that song has become.”
Muchacho out now through Dead Oceans/ Inertia. Catch him alongsideAli Barter atOxford Art Factory onSunday December 14, tickets online.
