Phosphorescent

Singer and songwriter Matthew Houck, who operated under the banner of Phosphorescent, started out filtering folk and country influences through an indie/alt sensibility, but after breaking trhough to a wider audience, his sound expanded to include all manner of tones and textures. Raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Houck eventually relocated to Athens, Georgia, where his musical career began in earnest. In 2000 Houck self-released the album Hipolit under the name Fillup Shack. Three years later he released A Hundred Times or More, his first album as Phosphorescent, on the Athens-based label Warm Electronic Recordings. The Weight of Flight followed the next year, but it was his 2005 album Aw Come Aw Wry on Misra Records that helped him gain a wider audience. That audience grew further when Houck switched to the renowned Dead Oceans label starting with 2007's well received Pride. Houck underscored his country influences with his next release,, the Willie Nelson tribute album To Willie. While 2010's Taking it Easy brought the rootsy side of Phosphorescent forward as well, Houck's sound took a detour starting with Muchacho in 2013, as he began pursuing a more broad-based indie-pop sound while still retaining some aspects of his earlier style. During the making of that album, he met Australian musician Jo Schornikow, who became his bandmate and then his wife. After they had a couple of kids together, parenthood probably contributed to the five-year wait between Muchacho and Phosphorescent's next record, the 2018 album C'est la vie.