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Mar 25, 2013Muchacho is a well balanced listen, one that finds Houck adding new hues to old canvases and striking gold at every turn.
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Mar 21, 2013Every sound is lovingly recorded and given a cradle of space.
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Mar 21, 2013It’s rare to find a lyricist so honest and a vocalist so earnest, and when put into song it seems to Houck as if every word is vital and cathartic and necessary.
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Mar 20, 2013There are experimental beauties, but Matthew Houck is at his best when he returns to familiar sounds.
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Mar 20, 2013No matter what happens to Phosphorescent from here on out, Muchacho is an artist setting a new standard.
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Mar 19, 2013Powerfully, the evolution of the songcraft on Muchacho doesn’t arrive as a random left turn but instead progresses directly out of Phosphorescent’s own canon.
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Mar 19, 2013Phosphorescent’s Muchacho is the kind of album that will take two listens to decide you hate it and then another three to realize how much you actually love it.
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Mar 19, 2013Muchacho is also Houck’s most accomplished release to date--his most heartrending and life-affirming, equal parts lost-love devastation and hip-swaying, horn-led exultation.
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Mar 18, 2013The scriptural cadence and mythic gravity of Mr. Houck’s lyrics, here and elsewhere, manage not to overburden his emotional payload.
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Mar 18, 2013As Phosphorescent continues to evolve as a project, widening its range and sharpening its lyrical acumen, that commitment has become more apparent, culminating in his best album yet.
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Mar 18, 2013What is clear, even through the sometimes heavier-than-necessary arrangements, is that Muchacho has some of Houck's best songwriting since his early days, seemingly tapped into the grainy pain, hard-living tendencies, and wandering muse of his subconscious with the most listenable results Phosphorescent has produced in years.
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MagnetMar 15, 2013[A] momentous sixth LP. [No. 96, p.60]
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Mar 15, 2013Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck augments his usual reedy Americana stylings with some unexpected developments on Muchacho.
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Mar 15, 2013This atmospheric, rewarding gem that, despite its decidedly downbeat subject material, hops effortlessly over various woe-is-me traps is certainly worth the trouble its author’s had to go through to produce it.
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Mar 14, 2013There probably aren’t enough moments that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, but after the initial struggle to get into, it’s a rewarding record to return to.
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Mar 14, 2013Muchacho is a record which can soothe even the darkest nights and moods.
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Mar 13, 2013Houck’s sixth full-length album takes the mournful country-rock seemingly perfected on Here’s To Taking Things Easy and runs with it, creating his most realised record yet.
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Mar 13, 2013["Song for Zula" is] brutal, beautiful, and like the rest of Muchacho, masterfully executed.
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Q MagazineMar 12, 2013While the more traditional sounding songs that remain are unquestionably excellent, it does seem odd to leave such a good idea only half explored. [Apr 2013, p.108]
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Mar 12, 2013A beautiful outing in hauntingly pastoral heartbreak. Impressive.
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UncutMar 8, 2013Phosphorescent has followed 2010's country-rock homage Here's To Taking It easy with an equally magnificent beast, mixing country jams with claustrophobic electronica and mournful Mariachi horns to create a beautiful but discomforting album. [Apr 2013, p.74]
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Mar 8, 2013He can do a tender, dreamy pop song, or he can plug in and just get straight to rocking. And anything in between is fair game.
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Mar 8, 2013Muchacho is a vibrant, evocative LP, and a welcome addition to the Phosphorescent catalogue.
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MojoMar 8, 2013A hell of a production. [Apr 2013, p.87]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 52 out of 59
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Mixed: 4 out of 59
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Negative: 3 out of 59
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Mar 19, 2013
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Sep 3, 2017
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Jan 30, 2014