Matt Pond PA Band

I don't know how there isn't a thread for them yet, but Matt Pond PA is a prolific band formed in Philadelphia and currently based out of New York. They incorporate elements of indie rock, folk, chamber pop, and more into their sound and their 11th LP, Winter Lives, is currently streaming via the AV Club.

Exclusive: Stream the new Matt Pond PA album, Winter Lives

 

Last official video.

Btw why they always have bicycles in clips.

 

Dude is so prolific.

New album "Still Summer" streaming and, no surprise, it's really good.

Not sure what happened with all the fake quitting music stuff but whatever.

Album Premiere: Matt Pond PA _Still Summer_

 

Following his career over the last ten years or so has been very strange.

 

Hasn't he called the last 3 albums his final one? Haha.

 

Yeah in one way or another. As far back as 2008, he made a myspace page for a "new band" he was calling The Dark Leaves (stating then that Matt Pond PA was over) and posted eight demos on that page. I still have them. Some of those reworked songs later showed up a couple years later when he released the album The Dark Leaves under the Matt Pond PA moniker. Then three years later he said Matt Pond PA was over again and released The Lives Inside as just "Matt Pond". Then a year later he suddenly released an album of demos called "Skeletons and Friends" and the Matt Pond PA moniker was back. Then another year later he released The State of Gold with a bunch of reworked songs from Skeletons and Friends under the Matt Pond PA moniker again and followed it up with the claims that he was forced to get it out there under pressure from the label. Then later that same year he released yet another album, but this one was under the moniker The Lowlifes. He claimed once again that Matt Pond PA was over and that he needed a new era in his life where he had control of his music and thus started utilizing Patreon. The album he released under The Lowlifes name (in 2015) was called "Still Summer: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fury". That album is basically the exact same one he just released today (only this time under the Matt Pond PA name), except that the songs are reworked again and there are a few new tracks here and there. He also released Winter Lives pretty much out of nowhere last year and then followed that up a few months later with a free ep called "Free the Fawns!" which were all of the demos he'd posted on Myspace way back in 2008 under the Dark Leaves moniker.

It's all...very confusing.

 

The 2nd half of this album is crushing me. Some of his best work. Union Square, damn.

 

Union Square is my favorite song on here. Also, somehow I missed this but apparently he is also calling this album the final Matt Pond PA album as well. So I guess that means we should expect another Matt Pond PA album in a couple years.

With 'Still Summer,' Matt Pond PA Announces Its Final Album

 

I just don't know how this guy writes as much music as he does. It's not all incredible, but he's varied his sound enough over the years to keep things interesting and he just keeps cranking them out.

This cover was the first song I heard from him and probably still my favorite of his

 

2nd half is very strong with The Full Stop and Union Square being two of the best songs on the record. I'll be sad to see Matt Pond PA go if they (he) do indeed go. I didn't get into him until The Dark Leaves, but that album has become my #1 go-to standard soundtrack for the fall season. From there, I've pretty much loved everything he's released, but I feel like most of his catalog is criminally overlooked and should have gained more of a following than it has. He's a fantastic songwriter that can somehow tap memories, moments and feelings that everyone has experienced without seeming disingenuous or generic.

 

Guess what he lied about quitting music AGAIN and there’s a new EP and I ain’t even mad.

 

Lol I love it. Literally never change, Matt Pond. I will listen forever.

 

out now?

 

Yep yep.

 

niceee

 

Heh. He’s changing the name again.

The Start: Two Decades In, Matt Pond PA Has Become Collected Lakes - Magnet Magazine

 

Oh lordy

 

Cool cool cool

 

Oh hey I guess he’s back to Matt Pond PA again because he just wrote a new EP while in quarantine.

 

Cool cool cool

 

You called it. I wonder if the name recognition is too strong to fully abandon it.

 

This track came on randomly on Spotify last night and I forgot what a jam it is

I use this one as my alarm on my phone on Sundays and its perfect just as the sun is crackin through the shades

 

Well, he’s gone and done it again.

Hello,

It's taken years to get to this moment in time —

We've signed with Bella Union and we're releasing music as The Natural Lines! Our first single, The Problem is Me, is out today.

Our First Five EP comes out Oct 14. Brooklyn Vegan has written about it here. Or go to our website here.

We'll still be performing the music that we've released thus far. But for now, it feels right to make a clean break from the past and try to live in the moment. Please feel free to join us.

Shows coming soon.

Thank you!

 

Also on their website:

“Matt Pond PA will be taking a break until 2025/26. For the time being, please listen to their new band, The Natural Lines.”

WHERE DOES THE MAZE END