Matt Pond PA
Still Summer
Reviewed by: Lauren Rosier
For nearly two decades, singer/songwriter, Matt Pond, has delivering solid, indie pop records to the music scene. His latest record, Still Summer, sadly is his last.
Still Summer is the trio’s eleventh full-length studio album and they sound like they’re just getting started. The opening track, “A Spark”, features a perfect power-pop combination of thunderous drumming and infectious guitars over Pond’s classic vocals. While on “Street Squirrels”, the arrangement is simple and beautiful, decorated with acoustic guitars layered over Pond’s vocals (“with my bag to the screen door/hands upon these thighs/maybe it’s not enough anymore/living breath to breath”).
Still Summer features some collaborations with some of the best artists in the industry including singer-songwriter, Laura Stevenson, on the beautiful “The Ballad of Laura and Mike”. The track opens with some rhythmic synths, then heads into charged guitars, creating a beautifully layered indie folk song about love and relationships.
On the album’s title track, it opens with subdued acoustic guitars, and then switches gears and ascends into infectious guitars layered over his vocals. He reminisces about past love and his first girlfriend, singing “she was a tightrope walker on the dotted yellow lines” and “within a series of looks/we’ll be tangled till the end/when we ride our lives out/when we gather all the pieces.”
Pond teams up with Mel Guérison to create the track, “Canada”. It opens with shimmery guitars and then join the arrangement of gentle drums and vocals. On “The Full Stop”, Matt Pond PA teams up with singer-songwriter, Caroline Reese, to create a beautiful folk song with Americana undertones.
Like tracks “Legends After the Fall” and “The Backyard”, Pond is ambitious and the creates a beautiful, instrumental song in “Back To The Future”, that also features vocalist Anya Marina. The Mynabirds’ own, Laura Burhenn, collaborates with Pond on “Last Breath”, a track that features acoustic guitars, shimmery synths, and angelic vocals from both artists.
The fruitful career of Matt Pond has spanned twelve full-length albums, ten EP’s, as well endless recording and touring. The final record from Matt Pond PA is a 14-track collection of truly beautiful, classic pop songs – what Pond is known for – a cohesive record that really showcases his strengths in so many ways.
Rating: Iconic
