AP10ThingsToSee - A woman blows blue paint powder on to her friend during the Holi One colour festival in Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, March 2, 2013. Thousands of people took part in the festival to express freedom and the colour of everyday life. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - A woman blows blue paint powder on to her friend during the Holi One colour festival in Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, March 2, 2013. Thousands of people took part in the festival to express freedom and the colour of everyday life. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - A man screams as the coffin of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez passes in the street as it is paraded from the hospital, where he died on Tuesday, to a military academy where it will remain until his funeral in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Seven days of mourning were declared, all schools were suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected for an elaborate funeral Friday. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - A businessman walks through the hallway of the Deutsche Post DHL headquarters in Bonn, Germany, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, pauses while meeting with reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, to answer questions about the impending automatic spending cuts that take effect March 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following a meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - Models wear creations by designer Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy as part of his Fall/Winter 2013-2014 ready-to-wear collection, in Paris, Sunday, March, 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - Members of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish community carry caskets to the funeral of two expectant parents who were killed in a car accident, Sunday, March 3, 2013, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A driver struck the car the couple were riding in early Sunday morning, killing both parents while their baby, who was born prematurely, survived and was in critical condition. The baby later died. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - Pope Benedict XVI walks away after addressing the crowd from a window of his summer residence Castel Gandolfo, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - Sobhi al-Hamod, 60, stands inside an underground shelter he made to protect his family from the Syrian government's shelling and airstrikes, at Jirjanaz village, in Idlib province, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Across northern Syria, rebels, soldiers, and civilians are making use of the country's wealth of ancient and medieval antiquities to protect themselves from Syria's two-year-old war. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
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AP10ThingsToSee - Dirt kicks up from the cleat of St. Louis Cardinals batter Allen Craig as he swings at a pitch from Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez as catcher Kurt Suzuki, right, waits for the pitch during the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game, Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Jupiter, Fla. Craig's hit scored a run on the play and the Nationals won 6-2. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Review: Luminous new album from Phosphorescent
Phosphorescent, "
Muchacho" (Dead Oceans)
Matthew Houck's quest for a few moments of simplicity has led to his most complex album yet, a lush take on easygoing country flavored with a light ocean breeze.
"Muchacho" crystallized as Phosphorescent's only permanent member retreated to Mexico on a weeklong spur-of-the-moment trip to check out following a difficult period in his life. He returned to Brooklyn, N.Y., with the beating heart of his most accomplished album yet, full of sprawling arrangements with horns and keys and electronic adornments.
Yet Houck never loses his deft touch for the personal moment, like when he narrates a rough patch for the listener before warbling, "I'll fix myself up, come and be with you" over a dreamy organ line on "Muchacho's Tune." He heads in the opposite direction as he patiently layers on the textures in "The Quotidian Beasts" until he's got something that soars right on past the seven-minute mark.
There are little wonders all over "Muchacho," an album that hopefully will take Houck to a wider audience as popular musical tastes begin to turn his way.
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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott .
Tags:
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