Swan Songs for Matt Pond PA

Nostalgia is found in most everything contained in Matt Pond PA’s latest album, Still Summer. It might be fitting given that this comes as their last album as a band and they find themselves looking back on nearly two decades of music. The New York-based indie rock outfit has released 12 full-length albums, the most recent being Winter Lives in November 2016. Singer and guitarist Matt Pond will be dropping the PA from the title and going on to do solo projects.

This album has the right mix of power pop jams and more acoustic ballads. The music only says so much, but his vivid lyrics tell many a story of a time past. Though uncommon for rock albums, the use of features on Still Summer work really well. The four female vocalists bring a uniqueness to each track they assist on.

Doing everything that a straight-ahead indie rock song should do, “The Ballad of Laura and Mike” delivers sweetness packaged in simple pop language. It’s a track that utilizes a female feature, Laura Stevenson, to propel a romantic narrative. The two vocalists bring a light-heartedness to the chorus singing, “I think I believe in you more than I believe in myself.”  The saccharine post-hook guitar riff tops the song off.

“Hello rabbit in the roadway/I hope this world still turns you on,” has to be one of the more interesting starts to a track on this album. However, it fits conceptually with themes running through Still Summer. Songs like this one, “Rabbit,” and “Street Squirrels,” where Pond finds himself contemplating the line between life and death that some innocent animals might unknowingly straddle, prove his meaningful observance of our natural world and what it tells him about the human condition. The blistering guitars almost reminiscent of U2 on “Rabbit” keeps the pace.

Matt Pond PA includes a few instrumental tracks to fill out this seasonally-themed score. “The Backyard” consists quite literally of the ambient sounds one could hear outside their home. Some reflective synth pads accompany the sounds on the track. “Legends Before the Fall,” which we hear, in the order of the album, after “Legends After the Fall,” shows the stirrings of some melodic guitar riffing, both devoid of vocals.

“Canada” featuring Mel Guerison is an easy favorite because of its warm, emotional embrace of a chorus and captivating performance. “How did we get lost walking in a straight line,” captures his plaintive spirit perfectly, a sentiment many of those faring through the troubled seas of relationships know too well. As he relates memories of a Canadian landscape, the arrangement swells to a sort of happy sadness. Guerison’s delicate harmonies complete the track. “How did we lose so well,” they both sing with heartbreaking sincerity.

All in all, Matt Pond PA leaves listeners on a high note. Still Summer captures the youthful exuberance of a season that has come and gone but Pond states that it’s not all just about reflecting on the past. With the final album in mind, he writes, “It’s about allowing the present to breathe. It’s about holding hands with ghosts and then letting go.”