Day 2 : Phosphorescent - 'Pride'

Phosphorescent is a freak folk/lo-fi solo project from Matthew Houck, a Brooklyn-based artist that has been writing and tour under multiple aliases since the early 2000’s. Pride was released in 2007 to much acclaim, and overall Houck has released five albums under the Phosphorescent name. I was recommended this by my girlfriend, while we were shopping at Schoolkids Records in downtown Athens (which will sadly be closing it’s doors in just a few weeks). She found a poster from one of his performances, and I was curious as to who it was. After talking briefly about them, I put them on my to-listen-to list. 

Just as a quick, random aside, but a neat coincidence is that in my itunes, when the artists are displayed alphabetically, Phosphorescent’s Pride appears right before Pianos Become the Teeth’s Old Pride. I just thought that was neat.

     

           

Anyways, upon listening I found myself pulled into the vocals instantly. They’re very authentic, and almost a bit drone-y at times, which sounds really interesting over the music. Houck lets his voice crackle and pop from time to time, which is very much welcomed in a 21st century full of auto-tuned vocals that sounds borderline robotic. Typically when ‘freak folk’ is tossed around, it seems to be most closely associated with the likes of Animal Collective & Panda Bear, but this is much more coherent than either of those. There’s a lot going on without it seeming that way, but it’s in a manner that you can still describe the rhythms and tones of the accompanied instruments. The recording qualities of the background instruments carries the lo-fi quality, sounding very spatially separated from the recording apparatus. Meanwhile, the vocals are layered and due to the previously mentioned drone-y almost gospel-like chants, they provide for an interesting dynamic that play off each other very well. 

This album really struck me well, as I woke up this morning from what seemed like the most rejuvenating sleep of all time. I felt sort of tranquil, fairly content, so my brain felt like a sponge ready to soak all of the sounds up as I checked my email. Pride doesn’t really make me feel happy nor sad, just sort of in that middle neutral zone, floating right along. I like that, and I think it’s important to make mental notes of these kinds of things. I would say Pride is a great album to have in the background, during those long car drives that just hit dusk, or maybe playing out of some speakers while in the shower. It’s definitely a keeper, and my trash bin will remain empty for yet another day. Or at least until I dump all of these papers I’ve written from summer semester. 

Favorite Tracks: ‘The Waves at Night’, ‘Wolves’


Recommended for fans of Deer Tick, Grizzly Bear, Castanets, and probably Animal Collective

Rating: 8/10


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Also, if anyone has any suggestions, I’m always open, so hit me up in my ask box or whatever.