Phosphorescent

Bridging both the traditional country world and the alternative rock crowds, singer-songwriter Matthew Houck has made himself an indie favourite full of rambling, heartland storytelling and cracked, tender romanticism since staring out in the early 2000s.

Growing up in the rural farmland of Toney, Alabama he was raised on country radio and started strumming on an acoustic guitar at childhood summer camps, before cutting his teeth playing open mic sessions and busking on the streets of college town Auburn. Making his way to Georgia he worked a string of part-time jobs and toured under the name Fillup Shuck before immersing himself in the local scene and putting out early albums 'A Hundred Times Or More' and 'Aw Come Aw Wry' under his new moniker Phosphorescent. He moved on to Brooklyn, New York and built his sound into beautifully ethereal odes to love and loss with the help of musicians from Dirty Projectors and Lower Dens and his album 'Pride' drew comparisons to Bon Iver and Spiritualized winning a horde of new admirers. He went on to cover eleven songs by his songwriting hero Willie Nelson on 'For Willie', but changed direction again and embraced twanging, atmospheric indie rock on 'Here's to Taking It Easy' in 2010. It led to him appearing on 'The David Letterman Show' and he toured relentlessly for more than a year, including a tour with The National as they rose to prominence, before returning to New York.

At a low point, going through a break-up and struggling to write, he randomly booked a flight at 4am, and two hours later was on his his way to an off-grid town in Mexico called Tulum. A week there refreshed his mind and kickstarted new album 'Muchacho' which went on to be his commercial and critical breakthrough. He went on to have his songs used in the movies 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' and 'Captain Fantastic', but after being kicked out of his New York home, he relocated to Nashville and was forced to self build and wire a new studio in his garage. The drawn out process took years, and in the meantime he evolved from a rambling, indie-folk troubadour into a settled, married, father-of-two and re-emerged more worldly and upbeat on his 2018 album 'C'est La Vie'.