About the song and video Matt Pond says:
I mentioned our song ‘Spontaneous Skylights 2’ and about being out of sync with myself. In the song, I imagined the roof exploding and seeing our world from the stars. Space and time, completely out of whack.
Something clicked and I wondered what Jen’s early films would look like with this current track. As if we might be able to make sense of our lives by attaching the present to the past.
The restoration process involved salvaging and splicing together two experimental films with similar themes: celebrating young adulthood and relationships, mourning the perceived loss of youth, feeling lost, and searching for one’s place in the world.
Because the new video—set to new music—was made years after the originals, it is now also about our minds’ ability to observe our own existence across different times and places.
(The experimental animation methodology involves a process of shooting still photographs with a motor drive, developing the photos, photocopying the prints, and then filming the photocopies frame by frame to create a stark, black and white, degraded, choppy animation style. The “xerography” animation style deconstructs the act of capturing a moving image. The camera often invites viewers to dive into the frame, through film grain, and into a dislocated time and space.)
Matt Pond-watchers might wonder why the name change. Recorded with close collaborators and friends over a period that saw Pond make vital adjustments to his life, The Natural Lines’ stealth emergence reflects his desire to set a fresh pace for himself and come from somewhere new, somewhere more open. “I quit lying,” he adds. “I checked my harsher tones. I cut my drinking down. I went to therapy and stopped shouting at cars.”
Now, the name change honors his collaborators. Among a revolving cast, one constant presence in his work has been Chris Hansen, who plays guitar, bass, keys, saxophone and sings. Singer-songwriter Anya Marina, shines on “In The Dark” and Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins / Bella Union) lays down a lush bass on this tale of hide and seek with true connection. Other band members number Hilary James (cello/vocals), Kyle Kelly-Yahner (drums), Louie Lino (keys), Sarah Hansen (horns), Sean Hansen (drums/bass), Andy Dixon (drums), Kat Murphy (vocals) and, also on vocals, 17-year-old MJ Murphy, for whom Matt brims with praise: “She can do anything she wants to musically.”
Follow The Natural Lines on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on shows and their full-length debut due in 2023.
