Hello and happy holidays!
Last night, Chris and I had a couple beers to celebrate another year of rocking softly. As the calendar winds down to an end, we’ll soon be pursuing some fresh new endeavors — new songs, new collaborations, radio times, snow wrestling and, of course, the dreams we all share.
Please note — some items in our store are running low and we’ll be taking everything down, including the free tracks, in one week!
Tomorrow, we’ll be transmitting a new episode of In Dreams from Kingston, NY at Radio Kingston. The show concerns fermenters and distillers — but the true truth lies in their thoughts and visions. The circuitous routes we all take in order to achieve our dreams. The shows are archived here: https://radiokingston.org/en/archive/filter/in-dreams
Tonight, our friends from the Key of Q a cappella chorus will be at the Hudson Valley LGTBQ Center in Kingston, NY for a special holiday performance. You are all invited!
Here’s video of the Key of Q Chorus with their amazing version of our song, Snow Day from Colony in Woodstock, just this week.
We hope you are all excellent! Yes. matt
*** Find out what’s next!
*** Find out what’s text!
Ok. This could be gratuitous. Pardon. (Please feel free to blame Chris.)
But we are whipping through our merchandise stock and our holiday sale will end with December! So if you’d like any of our goods, you are welcome to go wild here.
ALSO! Saturday night at 8pm on Radio Kingston! We have an episode of In Dreams featuring some amazing brewers, winemakers and distillers — Todd Leopold, Rae Wilson, Jon Buford, Dave Smith and Jim Crooks! This show is about how they got to where they are. And how that’s where they want to be! (This is the first half of two shows concerning these incredible folks. Yes!)
You can stream the show at RadioKingston.org.
It can be cold out there in the world. That’s why we offer this merchandise, the free downloads and the radio show — to be able to sing The Heat Is On and fully mean every single word.
*** Please feel free to dive deeper here.
*** And here.
Hello, party people!
Next Saturday, December 1st at 8pm EST! You are all invited to join us over the internet for our only show this year! A one-stop tour in the middle of my house! We’ll be broadcasting live from my living room on Radio Kingston WKNY 1490 and on Facebook Live.
We’ll start with a set from Ami Madeleine, a true, true talent from the southern nation of New Paltz, NY.
Then, a modest collection of our own material. (Please pardon any prior miscommunications or references to the Eagles — my sense of humor resembles an air conditioner on full blast in the middle of an arctic winter.)
* We have free music for you here.
** We have merchandise until the end of December here.
*** We have everything and all the extras here.
**** And there are mental meanderings here.
I hope you are all excellent!!! matt
Heyo! Our latest band member, Brynn, has begun to vocalize better than (ahem) other lead singers in our ensemble.
Kids and life, they can create unwanted messes. That’s why we’re including a Go Where The Leaves Go dish towel/cloth poster in every previous and future Gigantic pre-order bundle! Surprise!
There’s more! We forgot to mention that each Deer Apartments and Free Fall cassette tape will come with a printed and signed lyric sheet AND a hi-res download code! We’ll begin shipping on or about November 16. Once that happens, we’ll remove the pre-order deals and replace them with every album, t-shirt, cassette, tote and dish towel/cloth poster we have available.
We hope you all are enjoying Free Fall and Deer Apartments! The feedback is wildly appreciated. Still, it’s hard to wrangle all the angles of setting albums free. We are a modest operation, but we are rich in spirit. If you ever have an issue with anything in the world, please reach out to us. We’re open to it all!
HAPPY FALL!
If you like words, please go here.
If you’d like to see the gears beyond the ears, hear.
Today, we are releasing Free Fall — a free EP dedicated to Pennsylvania, love, autumn and you!
Please follow this link to Relix for a few winding words! You can download individual tracks here, or get the full EP here.
If you like what you hear and you want to grab some merchandise, it’s here.
If you’d like to skim some angles about autumn, please go here.
If you’d like to follow and support all of our wild pursuits, join us over on Patreon.
It’s simple, pure and free. We believe in this existence. Thank you for being a part of it. Yes! m.
*** If you don’t mind sticking around for the credits — the artwork was created and designed by Jen Taylor and Randy Lowenstein. The brainwork was handled by Teal Hutton. Chris Hansen, Sean Hansen, Dan Ford, Dan Coutant and Gia Margaret brought the noise. And if you’re reading down this far, thank you and thank all the people on Patreon for helping to make this happen. Yes.
Hello! I’m currently chasing apples with the brilliant folks at Shacksbury. Typing on a ladder is not easy! But we have a few sweet announcements!
First, for the second year we’re participating in Bailey’s Café’s annual silent auction to raise money for the Brooklyn-based organization that provides intergenerational arts programming to school-aged kids in New York City. My sister is a co-chair on the board of directors, and I am all for trying to get kids involved in the arts. (Personally, books and songs saved my life.)
Our offering in this year’s auction is two handwritten lyric sheets of any of my/our songs. To the highest bidder, I will personalize them in the manner of their choosing. And of course all proceeds support Bailey’s mission and continued programming.
Second, we’re giving away five copies of Still Summer and five copies of Winter Lives (in the format of your choosing) to the first ten people who follow the link here! We fully encourage you to respond with reckless abandon!
Third, we’ll be giving away a free EP in a few shakes of a lamb’s tail. We’re calling it Free Fall. (I apologize for the obviousness of my existence.)
Above all, we’re on mission to end animosity between human beings. As maladroit and confused as Chris and I can be, we can only make sense of this wild world by giving what we’ve got to give.
I hope you are all excellent. Yes! m.
Hello, people of the fall!
The air is cooling, the leaves are converting into their vivid autumnal identities and we believe it’s time for us to make some noise once again!
First up — we’ve been collaborating with the brilliant visual artist Eva Magill-Oliver on a project tentatively titled An Orchestrated Impulse. Eva’s creating twelve pieces of artwork, and we’re writing twelve instrumental compositions in twelve keys. Across mediums, these works will be created by seeing and hearing each other, specifically reacting and interacting with what we’re all trying to convey.
This project is born of a true, mutual admiration and the desire to articulate that connection in the languages we each know best.
For those of you who love theory, this is somewhat similar to a sonic game of telephone: Starting with a motif in the key of C and moving in fifths across the twelve keys, each successive movement is written in response to the piece that immediately precedes it harmonically, ignoring the others. Each piece varies in length and is played on a loop, and when all are engaged, an infinite round is created in every key at once, unified by the evolving motif.
If this doesn’t make sense, we hear you. As the project develops, we’ll let you know where we’re at. We’ll eventually present this body of work in the physical world AND in some kind of interactive digital representation.
FURTHER, we’ll be releasing some NEW free music and reasonably priced merchandise later in the month. And as always, if you’re inclined to follow our journey more closely, you can join us over on Patreon.
Chris and I both hope you all are excellent! Yesss! Matt
Good day and happy winter!
We’ve played our final shows this last week! I could not have done it without the mutual devotion of some of the best bandmates of all time. And I would not have been able to do any of this without the best friends and fans that exist. Thank you for existing!
In terms of finality, we have a couple weeks until our merch store is indefinitely closed. If you’re interested in any of our baloney, now is the time.
Because now is also the time to transform. We will soon fully dive into scoring dreams. (Please feel free to participate.) And I will begin trying to put words together in a larger light. Lastly, I’m going to re-approach the world of music from a perspective that has yet to unfold, yet to gain focus.
There will continue to be music, words and plans here. There will continue to be wilder discourse here.
I’m thrilled to have lived this life so far. I’m excited to see what’s next. Thank you for making it all possible.
Good luck to you in your lives. I hope that every person reading these words is moving in on greatness — we all deserve a little greatness. Yes!!! m.
(Photo by Tom Bush IV / @tb4concerts, 12/11, Club Cafe)
Today we’re releasing our video for the song Canada from our final matt pond PA full-length, Still Summer. Shot on the shores of the Passamaquoddy Bay in New Brunswick, it’s a simple tribute to the constant innocence and hope of being a human being.
Canada has always held a million meanings. All these places — and the people within them. We are sincerely looking forward to these fast approaching hot rock nights.
In DC, my life began. We slept in the van before our first show in Baltimore. Pittsburgh is the rough charmer that begat Andy Warhol, the city that showed me how to toughen up on stage. We once opened for Liz Phair in Toronto, hiding out in a small apartment in Kensington Market. Montreal is where I learned to dance all night with other human beings. My younger days were filled with trips to Boston, the confusing streets, the strange and beautiful accents. New York was my first real home. I learned how to believe in myself and my songs in Brooklyn.
And Kingston is my home. The first capital and the last stop.
I’m playing these shows with people I truly admire and love. This is all amazingly heavy, this is all purely amazing. We hope to see you soon!
Today, our More Winter Lives EP premieres on KCRW! All the way from the hazy and sublime City of Angels.
We’re honored to feature the incredible Laura Burhenn/Mynabirds and the astounding Steady Holiday. The sly genius of Sammi Niss, the bold strokes of Shawn Alpay, the true touch of Chris Turco. And, of course, the always-amazing Chris Hansen.
Chris will soon be a father. I know he’s going to be one of the great ones. His ability to tolerate me is the incontrovertible proof. Here’s to Chris!
As we head into the heart of the holidays, we’re saying goodbye with everything we’ve got. This EP, these shows. We’re excited to live in this moment. We’re excited for the subsequent moments, too. Here’s to the horizon! And what it holds for all of us!
Come see us live!
Check out our holiday merch sale!
Take part in what’s to come!
Yes! m.
Hello, friends.
Before we go any further, we would legitimately like to see things the way you see them.
In that pursuit, please snap, click, shoot and post your hearts out. Hashtag your photo #mattpondPAfallagain and the most appealing image will be posted on our social soap boxes.
More than that, the winner will get the original Night Moves pre-order package of Winter Lives: the album on 12” white vinyl (with digital download card) or CD, a Winter Lives tour poster, a Winter Lives t-shirt, a personalized postcard, a button and a sticker.
We’ll be releasing our More Winter Lives EP next Tuesday the 21st. While these soon-to-be songs and upcoming shows will be the lasts, I’m choosing to dive into the unknown with as much euphoric fearlessness as I can summon. All you metaphysical thrillseekers are invited to dive with me.
The picture above was taken by our good friend Diana Michalski at Dells Mill in Augusta, Wisconsin on October 17, 2017. She’s an amazing person I’ve gotten to know through this music. (Please allow the simple sentiment of the following sentence to sink in: I’m shocked and honored to be able to do this baloney — and to do it with you.)
Our most recent rehearsal was a full-on blast. Every first has to kick off with a last. Yes!
Thank you! m.
For our 15% off final sale, please go here!
For further insights and participation, please consider traveling here!
And for some face-to-face rock and roll celebrations, please meet us here!
While I write these words, my mind skates along the melody and lyrics of the Frank Sinatra/Sid Vicious song, My Way.
It is time to say goodbye to the oddly named Matt Pond PA. We’ll soon release a reprising holiday EP. And these shows in December will be the last we play under that honorific. (Or at least for a long, long, long, long, long, long time.)
Whatever happens next, I will continue to make music. We’re focusing the crux of our upcoming efforts here. Just without my name on all the baloney. It’s time for for a different brand of baloney.
Though I’m no smooth crooner nor Sex Pistol, I believe I gave it a good shot. I was lucky enough to record and perform with countless amazing musicians. And for some of the best fans/friends that any human being has ever been able to engage and encounter.
Honestly — I would not have been able to do any of this without the attention of the truest listeners in the universe.
Oh sure, I’m awkward and strange and broken in a few infinite ways. Yet despite the sporadic spirals, I’m still here and truly believe that music saved my life.
The only way to make anything that matters in this world is to do it together. Therefore, I want to collaborate in this lifetime, with other musicians, with other thoughts. And with you.
Yes, it was our way!
m.