Phosphorescent
Here's To Taking it Easy
B
Matthew Houck is good at parentheses. I mean this both literally and figuratively; his enticing song titles frequently feature them, as in “It’s Hard to be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)” and “Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)” on this album as well as the expansive and charming “I Am A Full-Grown Man (I Will Lay in the Grass All Day)” on 2005’s Aw Come Aw Wry. But it’s a useful metaphor for explaining his music; on the surface, most basically, you get gentle, rustic folk songs grounded with pedal steel and heavy instrumentation, but his best lines and subtle emotion peeks out just barely, almost as an afterthought. Similarly, he’s become an unofficial Spokesman For The Well-Done Cover, slipping them unannounced into his various albums and making a splash with 2009’s To Willie, a resplendent and perfectly-arranged collection of Willie Nelson covers styled after Nelson’s own tribute to Lefty Frizell, To Lefty From Willie.
To Willie was a gorgeous album on its own; it seems like almost a coincidence that the songs happen to be covers. In some ways, the critical success of To Willie makes a review of his follow-up album, Here’s to Taking it Easy, difficult; it’s an odd position to be an extremely talented and intuitive band that makes better covers than originals. Unfortunately, that seems to be the parentheses faintly circling this newest release. (cont'd after the jump)
