Search - Matt Pond Pa :: Several Arrows Later (Dig)

THISisMODERN.net Review

Anthony Gisondi | Clermont, FL USA | 02/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK, so matt pond PA have been around for a while. Why now should we care more than we have in the past? Well, the answer is simple, they are at the top of their game. Led by their namesake, mpPA just deliver us songs. They aren't concoctions of lyrics and guitars and drums. They are songs with meaning and feeling. The lyrics hit us where it counts. We feel the emotion that the singer sings about and it penetrates us through our skin and bones. One might equate the sensation that you get from listening to this album to watching a really powerful movie. There's no question that what the players are doing is outstanding, but when you can actually take away a physical reaction from a recording, then you've got something. The opening track 'Halloween' does an excellent job introducing us to who matt pond PA is today, and also stands alone as a track driven by lyrics accompanied by sheer instrumental beauty. 'So Much Trouble' is, without a doubt, the absolute best song on the disc, with catchy lyrics, the likes of which have the makings for a top rock radio single. Throughout the disc, you can hear faint style elements of other indie-turned-popular bands like Death Cab For Cutie and Guster. So, judging by the success of their predecessors, mpPA are surely at the stage where this album is going to catapult them to wider success.



http://www.thisismodern.net"

Autumn Soundtrack

Garett Press | Westchester, NY | 01/03/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later

www.absolutepunk.net



Jingle jangle, a term that materializes between my ears as the buzzing, warm opening notes of Several Arrows Later jump anxiously from my otherwise lifeless gray headphones. There's an interesting contrast here on "Halloween." By all means this song should feel like a warm weather anthem but in true fashion of a record released while leaves are dead and withering, the verses appear to be weighed down by the petulant violins. It strikes me that Matt would choose to simmer this otherwise buoyantly joyous pot with such a heavy undertone, until I begin to process the lyrics. "Went to where the people were on a Saturday night/Seems like it always seems, where we go I want to leave/Thought we were doin' fine with our lives/There are people who will tell ya' there is always something better." This is so... bleak, but the keyboard riff immediately following makes me want to run around in a grassy field? My first instinct tells me that the music and the lyrics just don't align, but then I'm hit with a revelation... I've felt this way before.



This juxtaposition of tempo, tone, and topic is exactly the art that Mr. Pond has so clearly perfected. Sounding tried and true, he sings with what I would describe as eager melancholy. Oxymoron? No... instead, a man weathered by all the pitfalls of life but with a genuine sense of what it means to feel good. Haven't you ever walked away from an instance in life with a knot in your stomach and kink in your neck only to be greeted by good news and the hug of a cool breeze? If I had to guess I'd infer that these "everything's gonna be okay" moments play a largely affective role, consciously or not, in the songwriting of our boy from Pennsylvania. Again and again, there's this sense of delight begging to break through like sunshine through the clouds, and perhaps that's what makes the chorus of title track "Several Arrows Later" flow through your veins and bubble in your blood. This notion of suppressed elation is widely infectious and when it does in fact poke its golden head through the jail cell bars of tribulation and glum, the payoff is well worth the wait, and then some.



The record as a whole lacks a true climax or a 24 karat gold hit, though many tracks will delight, but easily holds together as a heady conglomerate of pleasurable tunes and top notch musicianship. As well, the disc also doesn't boast much by way of replay value, but for each interval of listening, it will satisfy indefinitely. If you dig any of the other headliners in this currently fashionable popular-indie genre (DCFC, Decemberists, Arcade Fire), Matt Pond PA better be the author of the next Mp3 to pop up when you shuffle your iPod library. Very right for a season known as Fall, and very worthy of your time on every account. You might just find yourself relating to Matt's intriguing musical perspective of veiled optimism, or maybe you'll just think I'm an over-analytical bastard. Regardless, check it out.



-www.absolutepunk.net"

New to me...

M. Black | Chicago, IL United States | 03/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I had never heard of Matt Pond PA until I caught Liz Phair at the Vic Theater in Chicago. They opened for Liz and totally got my attention - they rocked and they were very likeable! As is usually the case with a quality band, I liked them live more than the album, but thought enough of them to remember their name and order the album three months later! They remind me of very, very early REM (who also used to frequent the Vic in those days) and other similar indie bands (okay, I'm dating myself, so what?). I think they have a great future if they continue to put out a unique sound and the great quality work that I saw in person and I enjoy on this album. Several Arrows Later is easy to listen to and is well worthy to add to your in-dash CD player or I-Pod. If you can, catch them live - these songs rock in person!"