Six albums in, Phosphorescent - the musical moniker of Matthew Houck - casually unveils a masterpiece. The Alabama-raised, Brooklyn-based performer, known by his alias for over a decade, was moved by a deteriorating relationship last year to flit to Mexico with a batch of starry-eyed song ideas.

Days later he returned home with Muchacho, all but fully formed. Houck still has the guttural voice, while influences from country to heartland rock are strewn across the record, while exploring new territory, wrapping his charred larynx around the clean, crisp strings and brushed drums of Song For Zula.

Houck has never written more powerfully, nor so personally if you assume the central character in the track Muchacho’s Tune is Houck himself.

Review by John Skilbeck