Matt Pond’s band isn’t called Matt Pond PA anymore

Back when Matt Pond got his start as an up-and-coming songwriter in Philadelphia with albums like Deer Apartments in 1998, the former Mel’s Rockpile singer decided to name his chamber-pop band after himself and the state he was living in.

Thus Matt Pond PA was born. Pond stuck with the moniker, even after moving to New York in the early aughts and feeling some unease about naming the collaborative band after himself.

So in 2017, Pond announced he would soon be done with Matt Pond PA, though he and creative partner Chris Hansen stuck with the name for the look back on his Philly years in 2018′s The Scope and Span of Pennsylvania, as well as a handful of subsequent releases.

Now however, the Kingston, NY-based Pond has a new band and brand name: The Natural Lines, the quintet with whom he will return to his old hometown to play Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Tuesday night.

The new band — which includes Hansen, plus Dan Ford, Hilary James, and John Courage — by no means marks a radical departure. The well-crafted, acoustic-based, sincerely thoughtful songs on The Natural Lines, arranged with cello and horns, sound like they were written by a guy named Matt Pond, with an added focus and a sense of calm confidence that comes with a fresh start.

The video for “Monotony,” the album’s first single, features Pond on the couch, seeking new beginnings in the office of his therapist, played by comedian Nikki Glaser. Does the arrival of The Natural Lines mean that Matt Pond PA is done and gone? Not necessarily, the band’s website says they are “taking a break until 2025/26.”

The Natural Lines with the Lighthouse and the Whaler at Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. at 8 p.m. May 9. $17. johnnybrendas.com.