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“Let’s remember how it could be,” Matt Pond, the ubiquitous namesake of the band that bears his name, sings on “Union Square,” a song that emits an upward glance and all the optimism Pond seems able to muster. A tepid look towards the future surrounded by songs that reflect dreamily on the past, it finds an ideal fit in the hazy dream-like designs of Still Summer, the band’s twelfth album and apparent sequel to Winter Lives, their most recent album which was released late last year. Cinematic in scope, it goes beyond the daydreams and good times imagined on the cover, which captures a group of boys doing what boys do in summer, fearlessly jumping off a dock into an inviting body of water. Pond is clearly reminiscing here, referencing teenage dreams and distant memories as sun-splashed images that slip by all too quickly. “True stories of midday and midnight exultation,” he suggests by way of explanation. It’s daily dissonance cast in twilight shadows of an all too temporary, half-forgotten past.
Then again, Pond and Pond PA have never really seemed swept up in the present moment. Their songs meander with a shimmering sound that suggests some nocturnal dialogue where deeper meaning lies well below the surface. On songs such as “Street Squirrels,” “Still Summer,” “Legends Before the Fall,” “The Full Stops” and the sparkling “Canada” in particular, the meditative musings take on a life of their own. “I think I believe in you more than I believe in myself,” Pond insists on the otherwise triumphant “The Ballad of Laura and Mike,” and while a pair of fictional characters may be at the fore, it’s that sense of uncertainty that lingers overall. After all, how can the present, with its all its complications and frustrations, ever compare to the idyllic vision of youth? “I won’t let go,” Pond declares on the title track. But clearly, circumstance demands that we do so regardless.
Pond said recently that Still Summer will be the last release under the Matt Pond PA banner. If that’s the case, it’s the perfect place to pause. The past allows reflection. The future is always uncertain. Would we all not be quite comforted if summer could be sustained forever?
