Biography
matt pond PA originated as a chamber pop quintet yet cycled through multiple configurations over the years, each one anchored by singer/songwriter Matt Pond, an alumnus of Mel's Rockpile. After moving from New England to Philadelphia, Pond assembled his initial group with guitarist/bassist Josh Kramer, cellist Jim Hostetter, violinist Rosie McNamara-Jones, and drummer Sean Byrne. The ensemble issued its debut, Deer Apartments, in 1998 and captured first place in an unsigned-band contest run by online retailer CDNOW. A second album, Measure, arrived in 2000 and drew parallels to a leaner iteration of the Cure; the I Thought You Were Sleeping EP surfaced the following spring. By the next year the roster had shifted to include drummer Mike Kennedy, bassist Matt Raisch, guitarist Jim Kehoe, and cellist Eve Miller, retaining Pond and Hostetter. The Green Fury, the band’s first release on the Polyvinyl label, appeared in spring 2002, the same period in which Pond began composing music for the Oxygen Network. The Nature of Maps followed months afterward, completing a third record in as many years.
Pond relocated to Brooklyn in 2003 and recruited what he considered the strongest incarnation of matt pond PA to date. Guitarist/pianist Brian Pearl, drummer Dan Crowell, and bassist Daniel Mitha joined him for Emblems, issued on Altitude in May 2004. The group spent the remainder of the year on the road with Keane and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. Before delivering its fifth studio album the band released the seasonal EP Winter Songs in January 2005. Several Arrows Later arrived that October, introducing cellist Dana Feder, and the group toured in tandem with Liz Phair and Guster. Mitha left in early 2006; Steve Jewett stepped in on bass. A limited-edition EP, If You Want Blood, surfaced the next summer, followed by the full-length Last Light in September 2007.
For his next project Pond sequestered himself in a cabin near Bearsville, New York, alongside producer Chris Hansen and an assortment of guest musicians. The resulting album, The Dark Leaves, emerged in 2010, with leftover material from those sessions appearing on several EPs, among them the digital release Auri Sacra Fames. After leading the band that shared his name for more than a decade, Pond removed the “PA” suffix in late 2012. Reuniting with Hansen, he recorded the first album credited solely to Matt Pond, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand, which appeared in early 2013. The musicians immediately embarked on a 10-year anniversary tour celebrating Emblems and performed the record in full. While on the road the band launched a crowdfunding campaign that financed its subsequent release, The State of Gold, issued in 2015.
Pond relocated to Brooklyn in 2003 and recruited what he considered the strongest incarnation of matt pond PA to date. Guitarist/pianist Brian Pearl, drummer Dan Crowell, and bassist Daniel Mitha joined him for Emblems, issued on Altitude in May 2004. The group spent the remainder of the year on the road with Keane and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. Before delivering its fifth studio album the band released the seasonal EP Winter Songs in January 2005. Several Arrows Later arrived that October, introducing cellist Dana Feder, and the group toured in tandem with Liz Phair and Guster. Mitha left in early 2006; Steve Jewett stepped in on bass. A limited-edition EP, If You Want Blood, surfaced the next summer, followed by the full-length Last Light in September 2007.
For his next project Pond sequestered himself in a cabin near Bearsville, New York, alongside producer Chris Hansen and an assortment of guest musicians. The resulting album, The Dark Leaves, emerged in 2010, with leftover material from those sessions appearing on several EPs, among them the digital release Auri Sacra Fames. After leading the band that shared his name for more than a decade, Pond removed the “PA” suffix in late 2012. Reuniting with Hansen, he recorded the first album credited solely to Matt Pond, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand, which appeared in early 2013. The musicians immediately embarked on a 10-year anniversary tour celebrating Emblems and performed the record in full. While on the road the band launched a crowdfunding campaign that financed its subsequent release, The State of Gold, issued in 2015.
Albums
