Look Away, Dixieland

Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck Plays Two More Shows Before Leaving Athens, So Flagpole Interviews… His Dog?

originally published November 29, 2006

Patrick Dean

She came to him; he had no choice. Out of a mess of brambles and river and all covered in ticks, Gracie Lou made her way into Matthew Houck's life. And for a handful of months, they lived together in a small and yellowing house on Nowhere Road, just northeast of town.

Gracie Lou is a dog; Matthew Houck is a singer. Houck, an Alabama native, has for the past five years lived in Athens and created music under the name Phosphorescent. The debut album A Hundred Times or More introduced Phosphorescent to Athens in 2003, and it was followed by the 2004 EP The Weight of Flight and last year's moving full-length Aw Come Aw Wry. The songs move from raucous blasts of sound and emotion to delicate, folk-inflected songs - all connected by Houck's tenuous, keening vocals.

The dog left a while ago; the singer will soon. Gracie Lou, a young Husky with striking grey eyes, headed back into the woods a week before Houck was about to leave on tour. Houck plans to move to New York City in early 2007. "It's treated me really well the last few times I was up there," he says.

With Houck out of town for the past month on a tour of England and western and central Europe, Flagpole tracked down Gracie Lou on one of the last warm days of the season. After convincing her that we would reveal no details of her new life, we discussed Houck's new songs, these last several shows in Athens and that sequined denim jacket laced with Christmas lights that Houck is so fond of.

Flagpole

Can you talk a little about yourself? Your interests, that sort of thing?

Gracie Lou

Oh, you know, the regular stuff. Running into the street. Licking people's ears. Oh, and squirrels! Love squirrels. Looove 'em. Chasing them, biting them, barking at them. Lately, I've also found it very liberating to just run around in circles at very high speeds… it's a pretty good way of tackling the existential malaise that I assume all North American mammals in 2006 feel every now and then. A good way to break out of the everyday blah, kind of. You should try it some time!

Flagpole

I totally know what you're talking about. That is fun. How did you first meet Matthew?

Gracie Lou

He was working at some building by the water…

Flagpole

The Broad River Outpost?

Gracie Lou

I guess. I'm a dog, so I don't really pay attention to a lot of details. Anyway, I guess this was in July or so that I showed up there. He seemed nice enough, and he scratched me in the right places. By the way, this isn't weirding you out? A talking dog and all that? Most people get a little upset, so that's why I just keep quiet most of the time. But we can all do this, you know.

Flagpole

No, no, it's fine. Please, continue.

Gracie Lou

Right. So, I hung around there while he was working, and at the end of the day, he seemed nice enough, and so I decided to go home with him. I'm sure a lot of your readers know what that's like - the ladies, I mean, who've been in similar situations. And then, when it was time, I left.

Flagpole

Why?

Gracie Lou

Well… I could tell a change was coming. At the time, I wasn't really sure what was going on, but I didn't want to get hurt, so I left before anything happened. Since then, I've heard that Matthew's moving to something called New York in a couple of months. I guess it's time for him to go. Same with me, though, so I understand.

Flagpole

Heard from whom?

Gracie Lou

The Athens area has an extensive network of chatty and well-informed woodland creatures.

Flagpole

What do you know about the jacket that Matthew wears when he performs? The one that works best in pitch black?

Gracie Lou

You mean the one that looks like the sky? With all the twinkling lights? Not much, really… he already had it when I showed up. He'd put it on at home sometimes, but I think he mostly used it whenever he would leave the house with his guitars and not come home until late. Do you know where it came from?

Flagpole

He picked it up in Madison, GA, in March of this year. Actually, he emailed me about it from Switzerland on this current tour: "Walkin' around in those junk shops down there with a close friend. Saw that glittering cowboy jacket hanging all by itself and thought, whoa, now that's a jacket. And there was a big antique full-length mirror, so I put it on and was checkin' it out. And it was immediately clear that for this jacket to reach its full potential - I mean, it was already pretty special - but for it to really shine, so to speak, it was gonna need some alterations...

"Phosphorescent was leaving the next day for a short tour - just a couple shows that would take us to Austin, TX, for the South by Southwest festival. And those are some pretty long drives. A lot of hours in the van. So! Packed a string of electric lights and some tape and thread and scissors and spent those hours patching in the lights. And by the time we got to Austin, it was ready to go."

He said the Swiss Internet café he was in smelled of dog food. Maybe he was thinking of you.

Gracie Lou

Aww, that's sweet.

Flagpole

Can you tell me anything about Matthew's songwriting process?

Gracie Lou

You should probably ask him about that.

Flagpole

I did, a little bit, before he left for this tour, but he's clearly uncomfortable talking about his own work. He'd avoid eye contact, and use his fingernails to trace designs in the circles of water left on the table from water glasses, and he'd squirm a little in his seat.

Gracie Lou

Oh! Speaking of fingernails, it's been a while since I've had a good scratching behind the ear. That's one of the several things I miss about living with Matthew: guitarist fingernails. Would you mind?

Flagpole

Not a problem. So you don't know anything about specifics for an upcoming album? He mentioned to me, "The songs are taking new shapes of their own, and I'm trying to honor that with the recordings and not push it."

Gracie Lou

No, not really. Well, a little. Remember, I left Matthew a while back, and so when I took off, he was planning on having everything done before he went out on this tour. In fact, there were a lot of nights when we'd be in the room with pianos, guitars and wires on all sides, and I'd really just want to go follow some smell from outside. But from what I can gather, I think he's going to have another full-length, with maybe nine or 10 songs. They seem like they're longer than they have been in the past.

Flagpole

New songs like "My Dove, My Dove, My Lamb" and "Cocaine Lights" have poked their heads up in recent live shows, and before he left for tour, Matthew played almost-finished versions of the recordings. They do sound a lot… I dunno, fuller? With more atmospherics and vocal layers. But surely you must know more details like release dates or labels or something. You spent almost every day with the guy for months straight. Can't you throw my readers a bone?

Gracie Lou

Ha ha, very funny.

Flagpole

So the details of these last two Phosphorescent shows before Matthew takes off: it'll be a full-band show at the 40 Watt on Thursday, and he'll be backed by Ray Raposa of Castanets, former Athenian piano player Scott Stapleton and a handful of other local and non-locals. And then this thing at Flicker on Monday… do you know anything about that?

Gracie Lou

He spent some time talking into that little plastic thing he held to his ear about that one with some other people, and it sounds like he's going to do something with that Ray guy and two people called Liz Durrett and Jason Molina. Like maybe they'll all be playing solo or together or something. But I'm not even really sure what "playing solo" means. Is it like playing fetch?

Flagpole

You seem to have inconsistently varying degrees of knowledge about human things. You know what a piano and guitar are, but not a cell phone?

Gracie Lou

Eh, what can I say? I'm a dog.

Flagpole

Gracie Lou, thanks for taking the time to chat. Should we, um, shake hands?

Gracie Lou

Sorry, I don't do that one. Sometimes I'll do "sit," or "lay down," but that's about it. I find the more anthropomorphic tricks a little demeaning.

WHO: Phosphorescent, Titans of Filth, The Good Ship, Jeff Fallis
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Thursday, November 30
HOW MUCH: $5

WHO: Matthew Houck, Jason Molina, Liz Durrett & Ray Raposa
WHERE: Flicker Theatre & Bar
WHEN: Monday, December 4, 8:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: Call