With Last Light, matt pond PA completes its evolution into a rock band. Over the course of nine years and five albums, as members have come and gone and as he relocated from Philadelphia to Brooklyn, frontman Matt Pond occasionally ramped up the electric guitars; see “Closest (Look Out)” from 2004’s Emblems or a handful of songs from 2005’s Several Arrows Later. But mostly, Pond relished orchestrating strings—cello in particular—and acoustic guitars for moody, often beautiful chamber pop. Last Light doesn’t forsake the past: Strings, led by Jane Scarpantoni’s cello, appear occasionally, and there’s an Elliott Smith-like acoustic ditty called “Wild Girl.” As a treat, Neko Case turns up on tear-in-your-beer ballad “Taught To Look Away,” mostly to harmonize. But perhaps because the title track opens the album with densely massed guitars and a big, catchy riff, propulsive rock songs such as “Basement Parties” and “Giving It All Away” define the total package. It turns out matt pond PA is a surprisingly credible rock band. We’re not talking Oasis—regardless of the cover of “Champagne Supernova” the group did for The OC a while back—but like other sensitive-guy bands (Death Cab For Cutie, Pernice Brothers), matt pond PA shows it can rock out tastefully. [www.altituderecords.com]
—Steve Klinge
