It wasn’t a near-death experience, but it was enough to compel Matt Pond to hit the reset button. The newly emancipated, New Hampshire-bred frontguy for the ever-morphing outfit Matt Pond PA broke his leg on tour in 2011. Shaken by the freak occurrence and the ensuing surgery, Pond finished out the tour sitting down, then headed to St. Augustine, Fla., to convalesce with friends. Once there, he quickly took to the funky, historic northeast Florida town’s laid-back lifestyle and Southern lilt. A rejuvenated sheen permeates The Lives Inside The Lines Of Your Hands (BMG)—especially the new album’s ebullient first half. It isn’t so much that Pond has abandoned the autumnal, inward-delving perspective that pervaded 2010’s The Dark Leaves, or his long-established penchant for overt melancholy. But he has given both a thorough airing out with a blast of smog-free, temperate air. Pond will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on him.
Pond: “To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.” I’ve read The Moviegoer by Walker Percy more times than I can count. It’s unrelentingly amazing. Some heavy sighers might say it’s sophomoric. No manner of criticism can shake my fortress of belief. It’s the story of Binx Bolling’s search. Alienated from his world, Binx floats through New Orleans and his family’s intertwinings, eventually facing himself and his existence. I don’t ever want to stop searching. I don’t ever want to be certain I’m right. The Moviegoer assures me that my glaring abnormalities are all totally normal.
Video after the jump.
