Matt Pond

Every year since 1998 Matt Pond PA has put out new music and toured relentlessly. This work ethic has led to some wonderful albums, and Matt Pond’s new solo effort, The Lives Inside The Lines In Your Hand, is no exception.

Matt Pond settled on an organic acoustic-pop sound that is fully layered with lush strings and throbbing horns. Much like The Dark Leaves, this natural, calm sound feels like a long look deep inside the personal life of Pond.

The Lives Inside The Lines In Your Hand opens with the easygoing “Let Me Live,” a track that, along with much of the album, might stand as indie music’s answer to a top 40 hit.

The first single, “Love To Get Used,” starts with a reused beat from somewhere deep in the 80s, only to build to a wonderful chorus layered with perfect harmonies on the line, “Black bird, from the blue, I give my love to get used.”

Somewhere in “Bring Back The Orchestra” Pond loses his edge as he sings a tired chorus of, “Bring back the orchestra, bring back the sunset.” From that point the album feels exhausted, lacking that token emotion that Pond usually touts proudly.

“The Lives Inside The Lines In Your Hand” is a highlight of the latter end of the record, though it sounds recycled from a time before The Dark Leaves. However, the iTunes bonus song, “Lily 3,” serves as a pleasing and proper end to Lives, and hopefully indicates the direction of Pond’s next ventures.