Phosphorescent - Pride [CD]

Raised in Alabama, Houck has always made music steeped in the Southern-gothic tradition, a sweet American folk soaked in atmosphere. On 2005's 'Aw Come Aw Wry', Houck cemented his reputation for making masterpiece albums filled with hallelujahs and songs that swung from ramshackle and joyous to broken and pleading. Pride is something different. Here, Houck instead channels something more mystical and haunting, offering up a dark, meditative set of songs that is all the more spiritual-sounding for its restrained tone. On 'Pride', Houck has only enlisted the services of a makeshift choir, otherwise recording every instrument himself.