AMG Review of Hundred Times or More

Charles Spano
All Music Guide

Phosphorescent's debut, A Hundred Times or More, is a collection of drowsy and melancholy neo-folk that will happily please fans of Grandaddy and Earlimart. Matthew Houck's charming croon is surprisingly close to Jason Lytle's iconic whine, and he has a similar gift for words: take the line "a long time is what forever is" on the rambling, glimmering opener, "Salt & Blues," for example. Athens, GA's Houck has the restlessness of Dylan, the home-recording vibe of Miighty Flashlight, and the at times dark, at times golden Southern narratives of Will Oldham and Papa M, but his compositions -- like "Where to Strip" -- are stretched into a dreamy slo-fi state like Neil Halstead revisiting his old band Slowdive. Houck received heaps of praise in England for his old one-man folk outfit Fillup Shack. And though the ~London Evening Standard's claim that "he may prove to be the most significant American in his field since Kurt Cobain," may have been a bit premature, Phosphorescent's A Hundred Times or More -- though difficult, is clearly one of the best indie folk records of 2003, from the syrupy-bittersweet, Billy Corgan-worthy bombast of "Bullet" to the beautifully forlorn (and Bright Eyes-esque) "How Far We All Come Away."