Phosphorescent and Caveman at Center Stage, Atlanta, January 25, 2014

Photo by Jon Whittaker

Last evening, Alabama-to-Brooklyn transplant Phosphorescent played Atlanta's Center Stage, touring behind his fine new album, Muchacho.  But before we get to that, Brooklyn's Caveman opened.

Caveman are an excellent band, headliners in the own right, and we've seen them before, once headlining The Drunken Unicorn with Pure Bathing Culture opening, and once at The Earl opening for Here We Go Magic.  They play shimmering dream-pop about as well as anyone, and it's easy to get lost in the glimmering, ethereal layers of their music.  I like these guys, a lot, and would have come to the show even without the evening's headliners.

Caveman added an additional percussionist to the band since I've last seen them, which only makes the pounding, tribal rhythms of their music sound even more urgent.  

Frontman Matthew Iwanusa had also grown a beard since last April's show at the Unicorn.

Caveman played a 45-minute set, and headliner Phosphorescent took 45 minutes to take the stage following Caveman's set.  That might have been annoying, but Phosphorescent had set up perhaps the most beautiful stage I've seen since Washed Out, possibly since Purity Ring, complete with flowers and dozens of candles, as well as several fragrant sticks of incense. The soothing quality of the flowers and incense made the time pass by pleasantly, and eventually Matthew Houck led the band onto the stage.

Houck was dressed in western gear, complete with cowboy hat, mariachi jacket, and golden boots that everyone around me were falling all over themselves trying to photograph whenever he stepped out from behind the monitor.  My boot pics came out blurred (see the Flickr set for proof), but promoter The Bowery posted some pretty good pictures by Jon Whittaker on Facebook (see top of this post).  

The hat and jacket came off when Houck sang his stand-out Song for Zula.  

After Zula and Ride On/Right On, the band left the stage and Houck performed several songs solo, both on electric piano and on guitar.

The solo guitar set had the Center Stage audience spellbound and totally quiet, especially on the song MyDove/My Lamb, which culminated in a lovely looped guitar and vocal phrase played over and over, each time with Houch adding additional layers, as it transmorgified into a bizarre, pained expression of heartache and remorse.  

Phosphorescent played a lengthy encore, at least four or five songs. In all, it was a joyous and uplifting evening, and Houck proved his credentials as a Southern rock troubador of the highest order.

Since the five-piece band that backed Houck last night didn't include a horn section, Phosphorescent didn't play my favorite of their songs, so I'll just go ahead and post it here.