246. Song Nos. 3,677–3,679: “The Full Stop,” Matt Pond PA
Singles, Demos and Covers, c. 2016; Still Summer, 2017

One of the best things about being a fan of Matt Pond is that he is so wildly generous in both making and sharing music. There are countless demos, remixes, early versions and alternate takes (plus covers!) he’s made readily available through all sorts of platforms, which means you can snatch up as many incarnations of all your favorites as you can find. Which is how I ended up with “Full Stop” in still-not-enough triplicate.

This song makes me wish hubs and I had even just slightly more compatible tastes in music: There are so many lyrics in it (“Shared terrified eyes / Feels good to be in love / A couple screwed-up smiles / We keep on holding on”) that are just begging to be shared with the one you’re smitten with, regardless of its first verse ending with the ominously looming “Will you love me for one more night?”

But like so many other MPPA songs, how this one sounds matters just as much as the picture its accompanying lyrics paint. It soars and dives and swoops and meditates until it stands in staring awe at the stars streaking over the Hudson and the entirety of the world is reduced to just two people and a moment. It’s one of the reasons I love Matt’s music so much, that balance of the infinite and intimate to underscore all the most important parts of the story, making those times where you can close your eyes and get completely absorbed in a song just as generously fertile as anything else any Matt Pond endeavor puts into the world.