After brief, somewhat ill-fated run as the Natural Lines, Matt Pond PA is back to its charming old self with Winged Horse, available February 7 via Sonder House. The band’s restless leader has acknowledged that the one-album name change caused more confusion among fans than it was worth. Pond even wrote a song about it (“The Ballad Of The Natural Lines”) and made it the first single from Winged Horse.
The LP’s latest focus track, “Korea,” grew out of a scoring project with Pond’s longtime collaborator, Chris Hansen. The film involves an American soldier stationed overseas in 1959, though Pond would rather not get into any more details—other than the fact that its “earnest openness” stuck with him.
“It felt as though the camera was searching for something,” he says. “Yet, at the same time, it was accepting and fully open to this world across the ocean.”
With a reassuring hominess that belies its title, “Korea” was recorded in Pond’s Hudson Valley basement with Hansen on guitar, Hilary James on cello and Dan Ford and Kyle Kelly-Yahner on drums. Looking to add an authentic voice to the song, Pond connected with celebrated author and journalist Mary H.K. Choi, a native of Seoul, South Korea.
“Our conversations—first over email and then by phone—focused on the meaning and emotion her words should convey,” he says. “In the end, she recorded her secret reflections in a closet in her home.”
The scoring gig inspired Pond to take a “deep dive” into hard drives full of band footage. What you see in the video for “Korea” was shot in 2004 by photographer Jeremy Balderson while the band was tracking Several Arrows Later and a cover of Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova” at New York’s legendary Bearsville Studios.
“Back then, we weren’t used to working with such great gear or in rooms that sounded so good,” says Pond. “Everything about the experience felt ridiculous and exciting. As you’ll notice, I’ve never been—and never will be—good at basketball. Sometimes, I don’t recognize myself in my own stories. I can get lost in my head so easily. But when I take a step outside, I’m reminded of the amazing people and places around me.”
We’re proud to premiere Matt Pond PA’s “Korea” video.
—Hobart Rowland
See Matt Pond PA live.
