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: I lived in Hudson, N.Y., for a year. It was after ages of struggling to establish a piece of mind on the L train. The way I restructured my mental state was through running. With Mogwai‘s “Mexican Grand Prix” as my theme song, I’d start down by the river and work my way up through logging roads, up to Route 9 and back down Warren Street, soaking and sweating, even in the dead of winter. The woods always had something to show me. Hawks circling above, packs of deer scattering across rocky paths, turtles lumbering below. My brain would drain out all the unnecessary reverberations. I would travel back to when I was young and worshipped The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner. The pride in defiance, in being able to survive this life without compromising your soul.
Video after the jump.
