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Phosphorescent’s Matthew Houck is set to return with Revelator, a new album of nine original songs out April 5 that marks his debut for Verve Records.
Grappling with the quiet obstacles and unspoken truths that come with the gravity of navigating home, partnership and family, Revelator ruminates on questions that can be difficult to answer: why a seemingly idyllic life can be defined by an ambient sense of dread, or the natural ways we drift from each other and from ourselves. But true to its title, this is a work intent on finding hard-won reclamation, reinvention and revelation in life’s day-to-day.
Phosphorescent has also shared the title track to the new album; a ragged and ethereal sonic blend that channels the catharsis of wiping the slate clean and laying it bare to earnestly build anew. The video for “Revelator” finds Matthew Houck in a boat, alone in a dreamy, dusky twilight, steadfastly navigating the allegorical (and literal) river of life. You can watch it below.
Phosphorescent’s Matthew Houck on “Revelator”: “This is the song that made me realize I was writing an album. There’s always one that does that. Until then I’m sort of floundering around with a bunch of song bits in various stages with no clear picture of what it is I’m doing.
“Once the song “Revelator” came to be, I could see what the album could be. I truly struggled with naming the album Revelator as I feel like it probably has certain biblical and genre connotations that don’t apply to this album or to Phosphorescent at all. But in the end I know what I mean by it and the album really couldn’t be called anything else. And so that’s why this is the title track I think it might be the best song I’ve ever written.”
“Our label is full of long time admirers of Matthew’s, and it’s a real thrill to welcome him to the Verve Forecast family and to have the opportunity to release an album of this caliber to the world,” says Jamie Krents, President of Verve Records.
Produced by Houck and recorded in his Nashville studio over the course of six months, Revelator features collaborators including Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs, Jim White of Dirty Three and Houck’s partner, singer-songwriter and pianist Jo Schornikow, who wrote an
original song for the album, “The World Is Ending,” marking the first Phosphorescent track to be written by someone other than Houck.
Elsewhere, inspiration is drawn from seeing the world anew through their children’s eyes, and a surprisingly profound (albeit mildly obscene) series of messages scrawled on a bar bathroom wall. Revelator directly follows 2022’s The Full Moon Project, which found Houck releasing monthly covers of many of his favorite artists. The most recent Phosphorescent full-length album, 2018’s C’est La Vie, saw Houck met with praise as “one of those naturals, a Petty or a Springsteen” (Brooklyn Vegan) and “the guy you actually want to sit next to you at a bar” (NPR Music) – plus memorable television performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show and CBS, Saturday Morning.
Phosphorescent will also return to the road later in 2024, with a full list of dates to be announced soon.
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