By Joshua Miller
For singer/songwriter Matt Pond – the leader of Matt Pond PA – there’s a certain fascination that comes with music and it’s abilities to peel back the intricate moments of life. Beneath the catchy pop and emotionally driven songs are deep thoughts and vivid images of the small moments that make up the fabric of life and the relationship we have with each other.
With the release of his latest album, “The Dark Leaves,
” Pond journeys further into the profession that first began as an unexpected but rewarding mistake. Days dreaming of being a history professor or some kind of administrator/bureaucrat slowly transitioned to days contemplating where to put certain lyrics and touring around to see dozens of new faces around the country. Now that music’s taken over his life he’s not going to waste time. Before Matt Pond continues that trend at Mad Planet next week Monday I had a very interesting conversation with him about his life as a musician and learning about life and music.
What kind of feeling do you get from playing that’s made you want to continue this lifestyle?
I don’t know, I don’t really think when I’m playing music. When you’re recording you’re trying to play as precisely or that’s how I record. You want energy but you also want precision. And when you’re live, it’s all about energy. Beyond that what happens when I’m playing music it’s kind of like I have no idea almost – it’s kind of just this electric thing. There’s a lot of things that go through my head when I’m playing and I don’t think I’ve ever been able to organize it all.
If you had to describe your music, how would you describe it and what you hope it makes people feel?
I don’t like words – words like beauty are hard to use. But I want to make something expressing frustration but through orchestration, and arranging and orchestrating that frustration into a kind of acceptance and relief. I don’t want to deny that there’s an ugliness to people but I want to show the opposite side of that.
What are some of the musical influences for you and how do you think they’ve influenced you?
I think of Neil Young a lot and musical people like John Lennon. You think ‘I’ll never be able to achieve what they achieved’ or I would be shocked if I would. Regardless, they made music that they wanted to make and could also still relate to people. Art and relating to people don’t have to be separate things.
You wrote all or the majority of your new album, “The Dark Leaves,” in a cabin the woods near Bearsville, NY. Could you describe what that experience was like?
Well, it wasn’t completely in the middle of nowhere. There are some places in Wyoming or Montana that could be in the middle of nowhere. But in the winter [in New York] when you can barely make it outside because the snow is so high and also pressed up against the door and you haven’t seen a single person in a couple of weeks then you can feel a little isolated. It’s a strange feeling but it’s a good way to figure out what you’re thinking.
What you learned about music and yourself while you were out there?
There will never be a time when I’m not learning about either of those things. That’s my daily project.
Could you describe your writing process and what you do to get yourself in the mood to write?
I don’t really know how I put songs together. It all falls out of me. Notes make me think of ideas and ideas make me think of note. So they work together. If you sit with a guitar long enough something’s got to happen. I’m generally with a guitar and hoping something will happen. Songs, they kind of have taken over my life. All I’ve done is do service to them.
Your songs on the new one seem to talk about beginnings and endings and the space between. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Yes, but that’s all we have, isn’t it? So often I feel that everything we’re doing is that we’re waiting for something, we’re waiting to start the next thing. When I was younger I couldn’t wait to be done with high school. And then I wanted to be done with this part. And we’re stuck on the phone waiting to get a new phone service and we’re waiting to do so many things. In some ways that’s why I love touring so much. In a way it’s why I like this thing so much is that when you’re touring you’re not waiting for anything. Your whole day is doing what you’re doing. It’s a really exhausting way to live but for me it’s the best way to live.
Your biography also talks about the songs being about surrender. Could you elaborate on that?
My impulses I think are screwed up and wrong. My impulse is to blast through everything and say what I want, whenever I want. But that just doesn’t work in a civilized society. We should be ourselves. There’s some kind of accommodation and realization that you can be alone and be yourself as much as you want but that doesn’t really work for relationships or friendships or anything else – or playing music. You have to begin to give in to a certain amount. It’s all about balance, I don’t where it comes from or why, but when I want to fight so hard against some things that’s the worse thing to do; basically knowing that you’re going to have to compromise something, there are compromises unfortunately and fortunately.
Any stories or moments while playing music that had a big impact on you?
It’s more of a large mass than one moment. Once something’s happened, it’s happened. If in the moment when I’m on stage and you asked the question I could almost tell you but it would be kind of crazy, singing and talking about it. I would probably explode. When you can connect with an audience and get a feeling that the audience is here to see me or us and I’m there to see them. We need that, we need to be involved. There needs to be interaction and when that interaction happens, those moments that’s the most exciting part. But specifically to pull out what city, where, and when something happens…I mean it’s all building towards something anyways. I don’t know what it isn’t building towards exactly but what I am figuring out but I am figuring it out.
What are your future plans and what should people expect from your live show?
I just am going to do this. I kind of make these ultimatums with myself that I’m going to quit or do it for a certain amount of time but until I find something I want to do I don’t want to do anything else.
[The live show’s] always different, even from song to song and place to place. The only thing I do is put every ounce of myself into what we do. I may be cavalier or confused but I’m not disaffected. I’m very much in this for what is it.
Matt Pond PA and Bobby Long play Milwaukee’s Mad Planet on Monday, May 10th. Tickets are on sale now.
MP3: Matt Pond PA – “Slow Day”
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Buy: Matt Pond PA – The Dark Leaves
, and their supporting show 
