“sweet, yearning indie rock” –Brooklyn Vegan
“Matt Pond’s latest incarnation heads for the wide-open spaces of heart-swelling, Petty/Springsteen American rock.” –MOJO
Pond’s songwriting builds up to a soaring high, tapping into a magnetic vein of instant indie joy.” –Under the Radar
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Matt Pond PA’s Several Arrows Later. To celebrate, the band is reissuing the album with additional acoustic versions and demos, and performing special shows on the East Coast and in the Midwest this November.
As a trio with strings, they will perform songs from their critically acclaimed album — including “Halloween,” “So Much Trouble,” “Brooklyn Stars” and “Several Arrows Later” — alongside other favorites from their catalog and new songs Matt co-wrote with his wife, Anya Marina. They’ll also be releasing a 20th-anniversary limited edition of the album, available at all shows. Several Arrows Later, beloved by mpPA fans, served as a kind of fulcrum in Matt’s musical life. He was hitting his stride as a songwriter—one who constantly mines the natural landscape, and that of the heart. The album resonated deeply with those who already followed his work, as well as new listeners, with whom his intentions seemed to click. “When this album came out, that was when I really started seeing people singing along to the songs, and they were showing me tattoos of lyrics,” Matt says. “I wanted to start a modest movement where people believed in their imperfections. And humbly, I believe it worked.” He says he wrote the album in a “small green room” in Brooklyn. “All my gear was stacked to the ceiling. There was a small path to the bed, and that’s where I’d sit with my notebook and tape recorder. I was invigorated by the good and the bad of it all. I was embracing how I didn’t fit in—how I will probably never fit in. To me, the album is a celebration of that realization.”