Live at the Music Hall (Anniversary Edition)

At the end of December 2013, Phosphorescent played a four-night stand at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and for four nights running, they blew the roof off the place. Matthew Houck, fronting his six-piece band, plus two auxiliary strings players, played for more than 10 hours, all recorded and honed to the 19 tracks that appeared on the whopping three-album set, Phosphorescent 'Live At The Music Hall'. Ten years after its release and long out-of-print, Dead Oceans is thrilled to deliver a fresh gold vinyl pressing to celebrate Phosphorescent’s enduring power on- and offstage.

The Phosphorescent live line-up features Ricky Ray Jackson on pedal steel and guitar, pianist Scott Stapleton, drummer Christopher Marine, bassist Rustine Bragaw, percussionist David Torch and keyboards player Jo Schornikow, the latter two both joining the band during the ‘Muchacho’ years.

'Live At The Music Hall' spans nearly 10 years and four Phosphorescent albums total, going back to 2005’s 'Aw Come Aw Wry.' There are tracks from 2007’s Dead Oceans debut 'Pride', on which Houck sang and played all instruments himself, and featuring a six minute, full band take on “At Death, A Proclamation,” originally not much more than two minutes on the original album. There’s also an extraordinary solo version of “Wolves,” just Houck, electric guitar, and a loop pedal, making the kind of noise at its climax that you might hear at the world’s end, an entropic howl.

From 2010’s breakthrough album, 'Here’s To Taking It Easy,' there are three songs, notably the 10-minute guitar meltdown of “Los Angeles,” an epic onslaught and perennial set-closer that recalls the rugged roar of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The bulk of 'Live At Music Hall,' however, is drawn from 'Muchacho,' an album of heartbreak and euphoria, including a ravishingly orchestrated “Song For Zula” and expansive versions of “Terror In The Canyons,” “A New Anhedonia” and “The Quotidian Beasts,” given explosive new life by a terrific band at the top of their game. That greatness has endured through the years, through new records written and new roads traveled. But here, in the treasure chest of “Live At The Music Hall,” the years disappear and that unforgettable week in Brooklyn feels as crackling alive and exhilarating as ever.