The State of Gold was originally released as two parts, but is combined in this full-length LP and preserved as it was originally meant to be heard. I don’t think that Matt Pond PA’s album is going to shatter anybody’s conceptions of indie rock, and fits into the genre like a baseball moulding to a catcher’s glove, but it’s really good at what it does.
Matt Pond’s voice handily carries the record, and the band mostly exists to carry his vocals. There aren’t a lot of musical surprises, but everything is put together in a way that feels solid somehow understandable. Sometimes feeling familiar can be refreshing. I don’t know how Matt Pond PA does it, or how to explain it properly, but that’s the closest I can get: it’s familiar and somehow refreshing, which fits me just fine.