With The Dark Leaves, Matt Pond gets back to the gentler sound of albums like Emblems and A Few Arrows Later, as opposed to the harder-edged sound of Last Light. For me this was an improvement as Emblems is my favorite Pond album. It's too early to say which tracks are my favorites, but I've listened to the album a couple of times already and enjoyed it from start to finish. If you're a Matt Pond fan then this is a return to from and a must have. If you aren't a fan yet, then this isn't a bad place to start. The Dark Leaves is another of Pond's excellent efforts with soothing folk melodies and smart lyrics.
That is all.
I'm a big Matt Pond PA fan, but after my first listen from his latest effort, I thought it was just okay. But after the magical 3rd listen, I felt this one is much stronger than I originally expected. Now it's one of my favorite albums he's put out. My advice to someone listening to this for the first time is have patience. It's worth the wait.
I've only been a fan for a few years now, but in that short time, I have devoured all that Matt Pond & Co. had to offer. I love the strings, the rhythms, and soothing vocals. These are some seriously talented individuals, and even play live with the same vigor! (Although without the Cello since it's a bulky SOB)
My recommendation is to buy this album, AFTER you have been enamored by his older albums mainly just to support your new favorite band. Dark Leaves just does not blow me away like basically the rest of their discography. The order of highest quality is as follows:
1. Nature of maps (Winner winner, chicken dinner)
2. Several arrows later
3. Emblems ("The Butcher" is one of his best)
4. Last light ("The Crush" brings serious guitar solos like never before)
5. Freeep*
6. Green fury
...
7. Dark leaves (Basically, only the first 2 songs remind me of the real MattPond)
* = Yes, this is an EP, however, the fact that MP provided the entire album for FREE to his fans grants him eternal street credit! Despite being free, this has like 8 tracks, some intrumentals, but honestly, some truly excellent tracks. Get it!
Happy listening.
Note: some of my current favorites besides MPPA are: Ted Leo & RPhs, Pinback, Aloha, Rise Against, Benton falls, Minus the bear to name a few.
