Matt Pond PA Announces US Tour, Shares Video With Kate Walsh
Kate Walsh appears in the clip as she auditions to become the band's drummer.
MATT POND PA has released a video for the song LEARN HOW TO LOSE, featuring a cameo appearance from Kate Walsh, who portrays a drummer auditioning for a spot in the band. The release accompanies an announcement of a US tour and comes ahead of Pond's upcoming album, PERMANENT CHANGE - PART 1, set for release on October 7, 2026.
With his 16th album Permanent Change – Part 1 now on the horizon, Matt Pond PA proves he's nowhere near slowing down. After delivering the sun-soaked anthem 'Endless Summer,' he's back with 'Learn How to Lose,' paired with a video featuring a cameo by Kate Walsh (Grey's Anatomy, 13 Reasons Why, Emily in Paris) as she tries out to be a drummer in Matt Pond's band. Out today, 'Learn How to Lose' turns the whole thing into a wager: If you're going to spend your life touring and trying to reach people through music, 'You gotta learn how to lose, you gotta try and be better at digging your own grave.'
Matt Pond further explains: 'Learn How To Lose came from a steady diet of Elliott Smith and Steely Dan. I wrote it as an offhand basement demo and texted it to Anya upstairs. She fell in love with it, sent it back downstairs with revisions, and somehow helped me find the celebration inside all my regrets. The older I get, the less I think this life is about being richer or more famous than anyone else. It's about making your stupid songs, giving them everything you've got, letting go of the rest, and being grateful if someone decides to sing along.
We made the video with our friend Kate Walsh and my friend Mike's kids. Mike played guitar in my first band, so having his family be part of it felt quietly full circle. The idea was to capture something universal: no matter where you are in life, you're always auditioning for something—whether it's a role, a relationship, a job, or simply the person you're hoping to become. We filmed it at Utopia Studios in Bearsville, where we recorded most of the album, which made it feel even more connected to the song. Chase Pierson shot the video, Scott Coffey directed, and Robin Gonsalves brought it all together in the edit.'
Kate Walsh adds: 'First of all I'm a massive fan of Matt's (& Anya's!) music. This is our 2nd music video collaboration together…No More Tragedies was an inter-hemisphere collaboration as I was living in Australia & my part was shot in Perth. It was so fun to shoot Learn How To Loose & Straight Into The Night in-person, with Matt & Anya, Scotty & the rest of the crew at the iconic Utopia studios in Bearsville.'
Matt Pond's new album, often feels like a one-on-one conversation, an intimate contemplation of his own consciousness and daily existence against a larger backdrop of thoughts about life and death, telling stories and telling truths, being solitary and being together.
Pond is known for describing landscapes—physical and emotional—with closely observed details, creating an often expansive atmosphere that resonates with listeners because of the universal feelings it draws up and together like a twister, spinning into a glorious oblivion.
Sometimes it's doubt, other times resignation, but it's always a party —'Find it hard to believe out of anyone you'd choose to waste time with me.'
'To me, this album is like an endless, fading summer afternoon,' Pond says. 'It's about embracing imperfection and being able, for one brief moment, to let go of worry. It's about looking back on mistakes with pride. It's about the way life can feel like a constant audition, and then the attempt to finally let that idea fall away.'
He envisions it as the first of two or three volumes of Permanent Change, a work he wants to be 'sprawling and wild.'
From the band's beginnings in Philadelphia to their current home in the Hudson Valley—through 15 albums (among them Emblems, Several Arrows Later, The Dark Leaves, The State of Gold, and, most recently, The Ballad of the Natural Lines), countless EPs, and beloved songs like 'Measure 3,' 'New Hampshire,' 'Lily Two,' 'Halloween,' 'Brooklyn Stars,' 'Specks,' and 'Love to Get Used'—Matt Pond PA has remained a living, breathing organism, permanently changing.
Matt Pond PA On Tour
9/17 Washington DC — River Pavilion at the Kennedy Center
10/9 Kingston NY — O+ Festival
10/10 Philadelphia PA # — Harmonie Hall
10/15 Seattle WA # — Ballard Homestead
10/16 Milwaukie OR # — B-Side Records
10/17 Roseburg OR # — Roseburg Theatre
10/18 Eugene OR # — Eugene Art House
10/20 Novato CA ^ — Hopmonk Novato
10/21 Oakland CA ^ — Wyldflwr Arts
10/22 Los Ángeles CA ^ — Gold Diggers
10/23 Ojai CA ^ — Ojai Underground
10/24 San Diego CA ^ — Soda Bar
# w/ Bathtub Cig
^ w/ Anya Marina
The video was shot at Utopia Studios in Bearsville, where much of the new album was recorded, with Chase Pierson serving as cinematographer, Scott Coffey directing, and Robin Gonsalves handling the edit. Walsh, known for her roles in GREY'S ANATOMY, 13 REASONS WHY, and EMILY IN PARIS, said the project marked her second music video collaboration with Pond.
Photo Credit: Jesse DuFault
Photo Credit: Jesse DuFault
