Phosphorescent used to live in the wilderness. Their starlit 2007 record Pride was a raw, pre-verbal cry up at an open sky: a bunch of real-deal hippies, the kind who haven't seen running water in five years, crooning songs of obscure devotion around a campfire. The songs were often nothing but mantras, sung in velvety four-part harmony and lit by whoops and ululations. "Be Dark Night" consists of just those three words, sung slowly and softly, over and over, with no instruments; on "Wolves," the menacing imagery — "Mama there's wolves outside" — is warmed by a single glowing ember of keyboard and two strings of a mandolin. Never mind they were just a bunch of dudes from Athens and Brooklyn: Phosphorescent tapped into something primal.

From the raucous first notes of "It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)," Phosphorescent make it crystal clear that they've left the hippie commune far behind. On Here's To Taking It Easy, the group is headed for the big city, and "It's Hard to Be Humble" is a windows-down, Gram Parsons-style warm breeze, a soused, rollicking tumble of saloon piano, electric slide and blaring horn charts. Matthew Houck's peculiar backwoods hiccup doesn't… read more »