Matt Pond PA, The Nature of Maps
For years, the Champaign-based Polyvinyl Record Co. has been releasing sensitive emo-pop by bands like Braid, American Football and Rainer Maria that, while not sounding exactly the same, all present variations on the same theme: longing for something. Most likely you.
In this tradition comes Matt Pond PA’s The Nature of Maps, the third album from this Pennsylvania-based band made up of the titular Pond and a handful of musicians. The album is a collection of 12 delicate, slow-to-mid-tempo weepers that back up Pond’s gentle guitar strumming with chamber instruments like violins, cellos, and just for good measure a harp.
The songs sound like what you’d expect from a guy who wrote music for the Oxygen Network and titles his tracks ‘No More,’ ‘Summer is Coming,’ and ‘A Million Middle Fingers.’ What makes Maps better than your typical emo tearjerker is Pond’s soaring vocals unfortunately, a good male voice in indie rock is hard to find.
Take ‘The Party,’ for example. When Pond bellows, ‘Next weekend there’s a party and it’s good to have these goals/ We’re finally getting somewhere/ These invitations, what a thrill,’ he delivers the lines with such an acid-laced tongue that if you don’t feel a twinge inside you well, then I pity your cold, cold heart.
Listeners be warned: Maps is a solid album from start to finish, but have your Kleenex handy.
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