REVIEWSMatt Pond PA, ‘The Dark Leaves’

6

• SPIN Rating:6 of 10

• • Listen:

    Spotify

Label: Altitude

Matt Pond PA is often dissed as "lifestyle music": Y'know, tasteful aural wallpaper to decorate the lives of mildly depressed, postcollegiate junior copywriters with cool haircuts. That's not entirely inaccurate, but it's a little harsh. The Dark Leaves wraps Pond's spry, jangly indie-pop melodies in plush, melancholy arrangements. It's rarely as lively as 2007's Last Light, but the interplay of organ, cello, and acoustic guitar on "Brooklyn Fawn" has a genuinely comforting warmth.

BUY: