Matt Pond PA / Anya Marina

Matt Pond’s very name evokes the natural world in which his songs are so often set, with their evocative lyrics about the sometimes jagged edges of love, the pros and cons of connection, and the agony and ecstasy of memory. He has always mapped the universal emotions of being alive onto the contours of his own stories.

From the band’s beginnings in Philadelphia in the late ’90s to their current home in the heart of the Hudson Valley, through 13 albums (among them Emblems, Several Arrows Later, The Dark Leaves, The State of Gold, and, most recently, the luminous The Natural Lines), Matt Pond PA has always been a living, breathing organism—one that’s constantly changing. One notable mainstay: Pond’s longtime right-hand man, Chris Hansen.

“I named the band after myself, but the fact is that this is a complete collaboration,” Pond says. “Everyone I’ve worked with lives in my head and in my songs.”

Anya Marina 

A murderous girl with a spine of steel. An asteroid hurtling toward a ruminating woman. Shards of glass leading to a dark, friendly place. 

Welcome to the provocative vision of singer-songwriter Anya Marina’s stunning new album Asteroid, her most assured work yet. Almost two decades into a distinctive career encompassing songs featured in Twilight: New Moon, Gossip Girl, and Grey’s Anatomy, an award-winning web series (Anya Marina: Indie-pendent Woman), seven albums, three EPs, and extensive touring with artists ranging from Jason Mraz to Spoon to superstar standup Nikki Glaser, the riveting performer / creative powerhouse is looking back, taking stock in song. Marina calls Asteroid “a coming-of-age story about a late bloomer. This record is about growing up, becoming fully who I am, and celebrating it.”

The irresistible, cinematic single “Nothing Lasts” – “the most straightforwardly autobiographical song I’ve ever written,” says Marina – sets the tone. “Nothing Lasts” unspools sweet, humorous vignettes – both spoken and sung – of a young girl starting to grasp the passage of time and, via Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and the Beatles’ White Album, the transcendence of music. Although upbeat, with an enchanting melody and tinkling barroom piano, the song artfully addresses unsettling change: “In the past few years, I’ve lost close friends, relationships have ended and started, I’ve moved, said goodbye to people and cities I loved,” says Marina, “and collectively, we’ve all undergone much sadness, watching the world go through a lot of turmoil. ‘Nothing lasts’ has been my mantra.”