I’m not sure how I missed this album last year.
It’s the most charming, bitter-sweet, honest and absolutely brilliant collection I’ve heard all year, and if I had heard it when it actually came out, it would have almost certainly been my favorite album of 2004.
None of the songs in the collection displace "Closer" as the best Matt Pond PA song ever recorded, but it’s certainly the most consistently engaging collection you’re likely to find from these indie-pop gods.