One of my favorite releases of 2009 so far is Phosphorescent's wonderful and beautiful To Willie, a collection of the band's takes on a number of Willie Nelson songs. I got to hear it (almost) in its entirety live when I saw the band perform at SXSW earlier this year, another show that helped solidify my complete adoration of anything Matthew Houck touches. (OtO fun fact - did you know that my Yewknee-created banner above is actually a shot of Phosphorescent that I took at SXSW in 2008?)
Phosphorescent's first album, A Hundred Times or More, is no exception to my adoration rule. After my love affair with Phosphorescent began immediately upon hearing Pride two years ago (the only album I've loved so much I've bought it three times in three different formats), I promptly tracked down the first few releases - the full-lengths A Hundred Times or More and Aw Come Aw Wry, and the EP The Weight of Flight. For the past two days I've been in a Phosphorescent-y mood, so I've been looping those three releases, but I keep coming back to Hundred Times.
Anyone who knows me well (in person or even via my blog and show) is familiar with my penchant for the epic, the breathtaking, the kind of music that seems to physically shift my heart in my chest and alter my ability to breathe. Pride was exactly that type of album - every time I try to describe it to someone I'm reduced to rambling and evocative sighs. A Hundred Time or More, on the other hand, dials down the ethereal choruses and epic swellings of sound to a more subdued level, into something more folky and terrestrial. But it still feels steeped in emotion and intensely personal, like all of Phosphorescent's music, maybe more so this time around because I find some of the songs reminding me of one of my long-time favorite bands, Toad the Wet Sprocket, oddly enough. Tracks like "Salt & Blues," "Bullet," and "Last of the Hand-Me-Downs" stretch beyond six minutes but manage to transfix me for the duration, and listening to them repeatedly makes me wish both for a Nashville tour stop in the near future (cross your fingers - it could happen soon) as well as a new album of original Phosphorescent material.
"Bullet"
"Last of the Hand-Me-Downs"
You can nab a digital copy of A Hundred Times Or More via Amazon, or pick up the CD over on Insound.
Phosphorescent's first album, A Hundred Times or More, is no exception to my adoration rule. After my love affair with Phosphorescent began immediately upon hearing Pride two years ago (the only album I've loved so much I've bought it three times in three different formats), I promptly tracked down the first few releases - the full-lengths A Hundred Times or More and Aw Come Aw Wry, and the EP The Weight of Flight. For the past two days I've been in a Phosphorescent-y mood, so I've been looping those three releases, but I keep coming back to Hundred Times.
Anyone who knows me well (in person or even via my blog and show) is familiar with my penchant for the epic, the breathtaking, the kind of music that seems to physically shift my heart in my chest and alter my ability to breathe. Pride was exactly that type of album - every time I try to describe it to someone I'm reduced to rambling and evocative sighs. A Hundred Time or More, on the other hand, dials down the ethereal choruses and epic swellings of sound to a more subdued level, into something more folky and terrestrial. But it still feels steeped in emotion and intensely personal, like all of Phosphorescent's music, maybe more so this time around because I find some of the songs reminding me of one of my long-time favorite bands, Toad the Wet Sprocket, oddly enough. Tracks like "Salt & Blues," "Bullet," and "Last of the Hand-Me-Downs" stretch beyond six minutes but manage to transfix me for the duration, and listening to them repeatedly makes me wish both for a Nashville tour stop in the near future (cross your fingers - it could happen soon) as well as a new album of original Phosphorescent material.
"Bullet"
"Last of the Hand-Me-Downs"
You can nab a digital copy of A Hundred Times Or More via Amazon, or pick up the CD over on Insound.
