Just like Christmas in the shops those year-end lists are appearing earlier and earlier. First out of the traps is monthly freebie Loud And Quiet's top 20: counting down from five it's The Rakes, Shout Out Louds, Bloc Party, The Lucksmiths and - 'the album we could not live without in 2005' - er, Coldplay. Moving swiftly along, the first of the heavyweights also jumps the gun, Uncut deciding that Sufjan Stevens just loses out to Arcade Fire which is fine except that the Fire were the big noise of last year. And, of course, the problem with showing your hand early is you can miss out on latecomers...

...stuff like...

...um...

..this.
reallyrather recently had a couple of discs sitting about the place for some while unopened. They arrived together and this blog would pick them up from time to time and enjoy them just as objects, their tantalising artwork and cellophane-sealed shininess. There was no hurry to play them since I knew instinctively that they'd be good or rather that I would like them.. which, of course, is the same thing. But knowing so completely how something's going to be, that's got to count against, surely? Well no, not necessarily. You can always hope for innovation, for Art, but at the same time You Know What You Like. Some sounds just fit, without challenge, and there's no harm in owning to that. It's only pop music, after all...

We were supposed to go on
And do much bigger things than we've done

Maybe this was in the minds of the rotating collective that is matt pond PA as they put together album no.5, Several arrows later. Well, it's one way of explaining the keenness to please, the sheer accessiblity of this latest, deeply fine, collection. If you've heard last year's Emblems it's much the same only more so. It's produced once again by new best friend Louie Lino. No idea if this guy's actually part of the band now but he's definitely become integral to their sound on record. And what is that sound exactly? Well, it's swish, tres tres swish...
UK music mag Comes With A Smile, champion of all things taciturn and, it has to be said, glum has been a long-time mpPA booster and it'll be interesting to see how they cope with the radio-readiness which abounds on Several arrows later. Heck, some of these tracks on here can only be described as fast. The fizzing vigour of the likes of From debris, Emblems and The moviegoer is kicked along by popeye drumming, some processed with clicktrack precision (to occasionally rather bullying effect). The title track is another of these and contains the line:

You should not want to sound like they do
You should want to sound like you

To this blog's ears, in these pell-mell freebooting moments they sound a bit like.. Ash?.. only cleaner, more chimey, older. It's little wonder long-time mpPA cellist in residence Eve Miller has since made her excuses and slipped out the door. But fear not, the strings are hanging on in there and all the hallmark lush midtempo crispness and superneat arrangements are also present in spades. And like Emblems the pleasure's solid pretty much from start to finish.
Opener Halloween immediately feels like an extension of the last record, the title signifying the seasonal preoccupation switching from summer to autumn (hammered home by the lovely artwork). It is safe is another gorgeous archetypal mpPA song and the one which offers most space for those strings (inc. Margaret White on violin, last seen by rr assisting Kendall Meade aka Mascott at Bush Hall last year). And the key to everything Matt's vocal, singing his words like writing in chalk on the ground, just before the rain comes. For all the claims made for the likes of The Go-betweens, the Pernice Bros, Josh Rouse etc, in the realms of mild-mannered, reflective, intelligent jangle this blog votes matt pond PA every time.
'That the group is able to come up with an album as musically and emotionally satisfying as Several Arrows Later is like a dream come true,' says Allmusic. [Buy Several Arrows Later] Oh, and purely in the interests of balance, here from last Friday is Pitchfork's ritual mpPA flaying...

Fresh from their oh-so-controversial UK jaunt supporting James Blunt, a spiffing, superconfident little headline show last week at the Water Rats from The Boy Least Likely To. Shoehorning their new-found sense of projection into London's best little backroom venue, Jof, Pete and the gang bashed through every song they've got inside 45 minutes. Yes, there were bubbles, yes there were fairy cakes and yes jolliness abounded. They've made a video - an anti-video, really - for people who watch TV and you can see it over here...

Oh yes, that other record...it's this (more anon..probably)...