Matt Pond PA : Spring Fools EP

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mattpondpaspringfoolsep.jpg" alt="Matt Pond PA : Spring Fools EP" /><i>Spring Fools EP</i><span style="font-style: normal"> keeps in the sweet alt country way Matt Pond PA has mastered - but...
Matt Pond PA : Spring Fools EP
7.6 Altitude
2011 

Matt Pond PA : Spring Fools EP Prolific artists usually exchange development for quantity.  They hit upon a winning sound that comes easy to them, and while it’s easy for them to make more and more in that vein, it’s hard for them to step outside that comfort zone.  This is certainly the case for Matt Pond PA, as the singer/songwriter has released many LPs & EPs, but hasn’t widely changed his style.  Spring Fools EP keeps in the sweet alt-country way he has mastered – but is also enjoyable enough that you don’t really care about evolution.

Spring Fools EP is something of the epitome of ‘short & sweet.’  At just five songs, it ends right when you’re really into it, leaving one wanting more (but there’s always going to be more Matt Pond PA).  Opener “Love To Get Used” is the most upbeat and catchy number, though the following “Human Beings” rivals it in catch (with an almost ska-like backbeat, thanks to Andrew Kenny of The Wooden Birds, whose own band Pond has joined), if sadder.  “Lovers Always Win” is a soft duet with Ariel Abshire that isn’t lost in softness, though the subsequent choral alt-country “Spring Fawn” doesn’t quite stand out.  Spring Fools closes with “Sugar Bush”, which is so enjoyable that its simplicity is overlookable.

And then Spring is done, finishing up too quickly, like the season itself.  Probably just a primer before Matt Pond PA’s next full-length, recorded & released while Pond’s working in Wooden Birds, Spring Fools distills what’s nice about Matt Pond PA, so much so that one has to wonder whether the upcoming LP can match this EP.  And if Matt Pond PA never grows, well, he’s at least found a nice place to just be.

MP3 Stream: “Love To Get Used”

{audio}mp3/files/Matt Pond PA – Love To Get Used.mp3{/audio}

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