Matt Pond PA‘s The State Of Gold is of a piece with the singer/songwriter’s previous work in its tension between plaintive longing and earnest a ffirmations. Paradoxically, it’s a confident album about having doubts; it looks outward as well as inward. Pond will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Pond: Andrew—or Kenny, as his friends call him—is one of my favorite musicians of all time. The American Analog Set was one of those bands that knew the space between the beat better than anyone. I remember hearing “Know By Heart” before I knew him. Double-parked outside of the old Knitting Factory, waiting for someone to let us in. Reflected and sideways, the setting sun was everywhere that afternoon. I couldn’t have imagined hearing something better to score it all. Years later, he started a band called the Wooden Birds, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it for a while. My wrists still feel the motor moving in all those shows we played together. Kenny and I don’t talk much these days. Touring and tough times have a way of weighing down relationships, inside and outside of music. If you’re cynical beast, please avert your eyes and keep moving along—this is just to him: Kenny. I’m always a fan, always a friend. Until the end.
Video after the jump.
