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I met Matt Pond, purveyor of stringed baroque pop,
in a tiny oriental coffee shop called Ray’s in Philadelphia’s
Chinatown on a cold evening in January. I had arrived
first, so the young man behind the counter seated me
and showed me a menu. I chose a plain Columbian Supremo
and waited for Matt to show up. He did, but before that
his drummer, Mike Kennedy, walked in and after exchanging
glances, we slowly recognized each other from previous,
vaguely drunken introductions and realized that we were
there for the same reason.
Shortly afterwards, Matt showed up. He said he was sick
and put down a bottle of Vicks throat spray on the table
as he took off his coat and sat down. I told him I was
curious about how he’d managed to make five recordings
of magnificently sad-eyed pop sketched out in ornate
detail by a cadre of cellos, violins, vibraphones and
French horn without ever infringing on any discernible
style of music. No country. No rock. No eclectic French
pop. No folksy pining or whining. Instead, his songs
have a sort of purity to them. A kind of internal logic
that reveals itself in melody. He said he liked the
word "pure", but it was his drummer who explained how
the trick was done. “Matt uses these strange, made-up
tunings that he invents himself, and I think that’s
what makes the music have such a unique sound,” said
Kennedy. “Because they’re so different, they force you
to think about the structure of the music outside of
what’s normal and that affects what you play.”
Sipping on a cup of Oolong tea from a ceramic mug, Pond
explained how his new album the green fury (Polyvinyl)
is just another step in the band’s musical evolution.
Though at first glance much of Matt Pond PA’s music
may seem a bit dour or even down-at-the-heels, what
with its plaintive vocals and whispered melodies, after
a few spins you begin to understand what Pond means
when he describes, or rather defends, his music as "Saturday
night music". It may not be Saturday night dance party
music in the typical sense, but it does have a certain
airy quality that could make you feel like anything’s
possible, like you just have to get up and get out of
your chair and go do something, anything.
But whether the band's music makes you want to stir
things up or just stir a few cocktails and lay in bed,
either way the effect is intentional.
“I did have an idea for the sound,” said Pond as he
explained the band’s origin and pretext. “There’s two
things I like. Well, there’s a few things... I don’t
like guitar solos, I like some, but in general anyone
who likes to write guitar solos a lot is not someone
I can relate to. It’s fine for other people, but I’m
such a retarded guitar player that...and then, like,
I love French horns and strings. Just somehow incorporating
the two I thought would really add backbone to what
I wanted to do.
"And yeah, there is a sort of dour element just in having
them, but I saw a few things I wanted to do. I wanted
to do what I hadn’t done before or what I thought was
missing.”
In between jokes about his childhood and growing up
in New Hampshire, and his flat refusal to talk about
his college years at Bard, Pond went on to explain how
despite some success with his previous band, Mel’s Rockpile,
he never felt comfortable doing the rock out-thing on
stage or even with his own guitar playing. “It was like,
‘give the drunk five dollars and watch him do a funny
dance,' ” recalled Pond.
Nevertheless, despite his fears, when the band broke
up, Pond set out to find the elements he would later
need to create the sound that would eventually make
him feel confident on stage. That search yielded the
beautifully nuanced and absurdly finessed playing found
on the band’s first album Deer Apartments (Lancaster
Records).
While only two members remain from that first album,
the band’s sound has remarkably both stayed the same
and evolved at the same time. Now, after spending so
much time performing and recording with this current
incarnation of the band, Pond said he’s ready to let
go of his writing responsibilities and truly collaborate
with the band that bears his name.
“The reason I feel so comfortable with the whole thing
is because everybody is just so fucking good,” offered
Pond. “It’s pretty cool. Now when I'm up there I don’t
feel stupid anymore."
Photo by Chris Meck
Relevant Sites:
www.mattpondpa.com
www.polyvinylrecords.com
Allan Kemler for Crud Magazine© 2002
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