{"id":57698,"date":"2016-06-01T01:10:26","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T05:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/upstater.com\/?p=57698"},"modified":"2016-05-26T17:16:56","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T21:16:56","slug":"matt-pond-musician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upstater.com\/matt-pond-musician\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Pond: Musician"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOMETOWN:<\/strong>Hanover, New Hampshire. \u201cI went back after high school and tried to get a drink in a bar, but both bars in town had a three-drink maximum.\u201d
\nMOVED TO HUDSON VALLEY:<\/strong> 2015
\nLIVES IN:<\/strong>Kingston
\nMOVED HERE FROM:<\/strong> New York City
\nWinter. <\/strong>\u201cI love that time in early winter, where there\u2019s no snow yet, no leaves, it\u2019s just a blank slate and it looks like the end of everything.\u201d
\nLEAST FAVORITE WINTER:<\/strong> <\/strong>This past one. \u201cAt least with a brutal winter, you feel proud that you survived. This was more like an irritation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Following an artist as prolific as Matt Pond keeps you on your toes. Try giving him a call to discuss his latest album\u2014The State of Gold<\/i><\/a>, released last year under his \u201cMatt Pond PA\u201d moniker\u2014and by the time you\u2019ve dialed his number he\u2019s already dropped a new <\/i>new album: Still Summer: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fury<\/i>, released as The Lowlifes<\/a>. The album came together when Pond and his frequent collaborator, Chris Hansen, realized that they had a few leftover songs kicking around that all dealt with summer in some way. So they banged out a few more songs about the transition from summer into fall, scruffing up their usual soaring indie-pop anthemic sound so that the songs played just a little more ragged and a little wilder than on records past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite things we\u2019ve ever done,\u201d says Pond. \u201cIt\u2019s about a lot of people working fast, creating a website, coming up with designs, all believing in this ephemeral idea that only really came together the day before we left on tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, after 10 years of touring, Pond is ready to finally settle down. He bought a house in Uptown Kingston a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to not have a transient life anymore,\u201d he explains. \u201cMy office was a hotel bed, my desk was a pillow. As much as I love performing, we can\u2019t teleport places, and we\u2019re the ones who have to make sure that everything happens. Trying to tour with fanfare and all that\u2014it just seemed empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concert that Pond held as a sort of christening for his new home also pointed the way to the next phase of his career. \u201cI think I only want to perform from now on in my own house, or a place I own,\u201d he says. On the other hand, Pond\u2019s new house has its own practice space in the basement, something he\u2019s never had before and that he expects will make any future projects a lot easier. \u201cAll the years of renting practice spaces and trying to figure out the logistics of tours would have been easier if I had been a bit more domestic,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen your life is in chaos, everything that comes out of it is chaotic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now ensconced in his own space, Pond says he feels free to keep making music, release more albums, or even pursue other career options\u2014something he never would have been able to do when he lived in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York, your ambition is swallowed by your rent,\u201d he says. \u201cIn Kingston, it\u2019s affordable and people are ambitious. It\u2019s beautiful and unfinished. It\u2019s open, it\u2019s got potential. Everything hasn\u2019t been decided. I see good people, possibilities. I\u2019ve never so quickly been a part of a community and loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hudson Valley can look forward to Pond being a fixture of the local music scene for many years to come. And there are sure to be more surprises in store. In the time it took you to read this article, he may have already released another album.<\/a><\/p>\n