A lot has happened in Matthew Houck's life since his last studio album Muchaco from 2013. He briefly summarizes his existence during that period as 'lost the place, lost the girl and lost my mind'. We could also hear that in the songs of his alter ego Phosphorescent. C'est La Vie is all about his new life as a husband and father. He alternates a confession like These Rocks ('I was drunk for a decade')
… with a self-explanatory title like My Beautiful Boy. Musically Houck still creates his own universe, in which a howling steel guitar effortlessly mixes with poppy electronics and classic rock. In a song like C'est La Vie he sounds more catchy than ever. In the -like rocker Christmas Down Under, he shows with nagging autotune vocals and a false guitar solo that he hasn't lost his sense of dark (hipster) irony either. (MR)more
