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matt pond PA
Last Light - ALTITUDE
Filter Grade: 84%
by Bryan Chenault | 09.17.2007
It’s not that the signature strings are missing or the lyrics are less poignant, it’s just that Last Light finds them hidden behind a big ol’ indie rock rather than center stage amid swirling chamber pop. Utilizing a more sophisticated, self-produced sound while playing host to a gaggle of guests, Pond’s revved up guitars and clap tracks drive you out of the New Hampshire woods and into the Brooklyn streets. Though dive bars have long since replaced the tree forts of 1998’s Deer Apartments, mpPA reminds us the sun hasn’t set just yet. - Bryan Chenault
Rating: 4.3/5
Release Date: September 25, 2007
[By: Dan Brian]
Matt Pond PA is one of those bands that I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with over the years, because it is a relationship, of course. Whenever the group would come across my XM dial, I would always think to myself, “Meh, I wish it were a Pixies song instead, but this will do,” and never switch the station. I’ve always wondered why I never flipped through the other 200 stations on XM when Matt Pond PA hit the airwaves, as I don’t particularly enjoy its music. Now, with the band’s latest record, “Last Light,” I’ve come to understand.
Matt Pond is genuinely a good musician and songwriter, and despite one’s taste, puts out records that demand respect from his peers. It’s kind of like having a friend with the same beliefs and ideas, but he or she just executes and argues them in a different manner that one might not agree with. Now, nine years and 12 defunct band members later (Pond is the only original member to date) since its 1998 debut, “Deer Apartments,” Matt Pond PA has released its seventh album, “Last Light,” a dynamic monument to its sound and saga.
All the usual relationship cross sections and love yammering are here, but Pond’s endless obsession with nature has never been so well woven into his blanket of introspection. The backdrop of couples lying in snow, wild girls near the ocean dressed in white, and sunlight gleaming off the faces of lovers add an Ansel Adams-esque visual perspective to “Last Light” that only bolsters the record’s aural beauty. Most of the songs are above average with one or two exceptions, and there’s even a bit of an upbeat and angry track (“The Crush”) that showcases a refreshing guitar solo; not to mention, I think this cut is as angry as Pond gets musically. Peak tracks are debatable, but “People Have a Way” is a special step outside the box for Pond, as he has an existential moment, pulling back from the micro-chasmic close-up of day to day events and taking a gander at humanity through the wide-angel lens. It’s a bit of an esoteric track on the record but it’s a sign of growth and perspective. The band’s expansive sound remains signature, yet more layered with anomalous production elements that add an underlying current to “Last Light.”
Rock out, cry, or just sit back and enjoy. Pick and choose, or just do all three at the same time. - WONKA VISION
Discography
"Sunlight" (Single, 2007)
Last Light (Altitude, 2007)
If You Want Blood EP (Altitude, 2007)
"So Much Trouble" (Single, 2006)
"Halloween" (Single, 2005)
Several Arrows Later (Altitude, 2005)
"Snow Day"/"Holiday Road" (Single, 2006)
"Snow Day"/"Holiday Road" (Single, 2005)
Winter Songs (Altitude, 2005)
"Lily Two"/"Golden Brown" (Single, 2004)
Emblems (Altitude, 2004)
Four Songs EP (Altitude, 2004)
The Nature of Maps (Polyvinyl, 2002)
The Green Fury (Polyvinyl, 2002)
This is Not the Green Fury EP (Polyvinyl, 2001)
I Thought You Were Sleeping EP (File 13, 2001)
Measure (File 13, 1999)
Deer Apartments (Lancaster, 1998)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Matt Pond isn't looking for trouble, but he won't back down from a good fight – the most recent being his latest album, Last Light. If this were an action flick, we'd open on a vigilant Pond, wresting the steering wheel from anyone who wishes to drive him off a cliff. See, this is the first time he's accepted a lead role – that of Producer – and it may just be his best yet. It goes something like this:
We flashback to 2004: After the release of Emblems, Pond's body is found, in song, behind a hotel. Now, three years later with Last Light, he's kicked the coffin wide open. As incongruous as a eulogy at a baptism, Last Light is the absurdity that blankets our grandest efforts, along with the undeniable instinct that is survival – a field of paranoia and a flood of self-medication that, somehow, remains fertile. Musically, it displays Pond's newly formed reverence for those who are English (Pulp, Blur, Idle Race) as well as a lasting dedication to those who are timeless (Elliott Smith, The Kinks and Neil Young) – thus revealing the connected distances between soaring strings, feedback and a solo acoustic guitar.
It all begins with the title track – a grinding, rollicking preamble to the journey before us, and the fear that comes with it. Riding a lively swell of chaos – sounding not unlike Spiritualized getting, well, spiritual in Appalachia – "People Have a Way" follows as a pulsing denouncement of apathy. Mirror-house regard meets familiar themes of nature and changing seasons in the sweetly-strummed, piano-littered "Locate the Pieces," while the gliding force of "Honestly" takes a swing at disbelief as a forceful string arrangement chops unremitting at the space around it. Close on its tail is the redolent "Taught to Look Away" – a waltz-like duet (co-starring Neko Case) that questions the opposing act of belief. Elsewhere, warm feelings of despair thread throughout the jaunty handclaps of "Sunlight," driving guitars of "Basement Parties" and ephemeral reflection of "Until the East Coast Ends." "The Crush" and "Giving It All Away" explore the cathartic release of frustration while angular guitars jab under precisely delivered lyrics. Finally, the trip concludes with the sparing desire of "It's Not So Bad At All"– a gentle, self-reassuring mantra of simple hope.
Last Light dragged Matt Pond back and forth across the country – from Brooklyn to Bearsville to Los Angeles to Tucson to Manhattan (There remain rubber tracks on the Sunset Strip where he beat himself and everyone else at the standing stoplights. "The trick is to time the green with the walk signal…"). Along the way he was introduced to an amazing cast of supporting characters, including Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, Isobel Sollenberger (Bardo Pond), Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck), Taylor Locke (Rooney), Lance Konnerth, Jane Scarpantoni, Mike Stroud (Ratatat) and Thom Monahan (Pernice Brothers, Lilys).
The prequel: Matt Pond PA is Pond's attempt to create an egalitarian event despite knowing better (see: Easy Rider, or just review the band's history). Over the years, Pond slowly weaved his way from Pennsylvania to New York, releasing a string of albums that sought to redefine leaves and leaving. The critical success of Emblems (2004) and Several Arrows Later (2005) scored mpPA a place on Conan O'Brien's stage and in every O.C. fan's iPod, not to mention excellent tours with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Keane, Liz Phair and Guster. And, despite the tragedy that is stolen gear, mpPA has also managed many successful headlining tours. All of this as band members and producers periodically fell from the late season trees. It is impossible to know who slipped or who was pushed, but Pond currently holds on alongside his friends "slash" greatest contributors: Dan Crowell (drums/keys/guitar), Steven Jewett (guitar/bass), Matthew Daniel Siskin (bass) and Chris Hansen (keys/guitar).
The story isn't over. But the fight, for now, has been won. And though Matt Pond is a vegetarian and an ex-smoker, he'd still like to light up and eat a steak in the final scene. After all, we should all be able to choose our last suppers.
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