Upcoming Releases

On September 24, Matt Pond PA will reissue their acclaimed album The State of Gold on the band's label, 131 Records. The band released "Spaceland" featuring Nada Surf's Matthew Caws from the forthcoming release.

About the song Matt Pond says:

"Spaceland was originally the last song on The State of Gold. It's a hazy vision of the first club we played on the west coast, a place where dreams and reality collide — beautiful palm trees overlooking littered sidewalks. We waited on that sidewalk for hours, killing time until the barback opened the gate to let us in.

Spaceland had a glass smoking room in the back and a Galaga machine next to the bar. I dropped quarter after quarter into that machine while we waited to soundcheck. The green room was a closet, the stage always felt two feet too small. I loved that space.

When we got the rights back to The State of Gold, I knew that I wanted to change the order and remaster the album. And I knew that I wanted to re-record Spaceland and put it first.

The song has always felt alive to me. It has an undeniable pulse. Matthew Caws and Louie Lino from Nada Surf found the pulse and gave Spaceland a new life. An uncontrollable smile overtakes my face every time I think about Matthew's new bridge."

What had once been a musical war has turned into a peaceful transition of power. Matt Pond PA got the master rights back to their album, The State of Gold. The band remastered and resequenced it in reverse because that’s the way they see the past. It’s the taillights that appear last.

The State of Gold started up when Matt Pond returned to the northeast from Florida and California, back to a mid-winter cabin in Bearsville, NY. Snowbanks were the opposite of sand dunes and he loved it.

In January of 2014, the band started writing the music, leaning on polyrhythms and synths to take them beyond our normal routes and boundaries. They were trying to make sounds that could compel a hermit to dance. They were trying to wake the woods.

The band was completely committed, the album was featured on NPR’s First Listen, they were rehearsing like mad, touring the country. And then they began fighting with their record label about everything, and ultimately, for the rights to The State Of Gold. That fight lasted five years. Last December, the label finally capitulated and said, “It’s yours.”

In order to reconnect with the music, the band recently re-recorded the first song, "Spaceland," with Matthew Caws and Louie Lino from Nada Surf. Matthew added a mind-blowing bridge during a mind-numbing pandemic. I am eternally humbled and honored by his contribution. (The album includes mind-blowing performances from Laura Stevenson and Laura Burhenn from Mynabirds, as well.)

The State of Gold is about watching a dream unfold into reality and then having to survive that reality. It’s never simple.

State of Gold tracklist:

1. Spaceland
2. The State Of Gold Part 2
3. History Of Canada
4. Four Eyes
5. Don't Look Down
6. The State Of Gold Part 1
7. A Second Lasts A Second
8. The Starting Line
9. Emptiness
10. Take Me With You
11. There Were Times
12. More No More