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From The Desk Of Matt Pond: Touring—Paul Simon Riding Shotgun In My Brain

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.

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Pond: I don’t love touring. And at the same time, I love it more than anything.

Sleeping in a different bed every night, driving through multiple seasons by day, lonely landscapes and the spiraling stares, making sure to focus all my power on that one staged hour of every evening … It’s like a living dream. It’s torture, too.

I rely on my mental bank of Paul Simon songs to carry me through, the ease with which he can sing about what unsettles him. “Homeward Bound,” “Still Crazy After All These Years”—those two numbers were shakily sung in the shower of a Holiday Inn Express this morning.

When I was half my height, I remember going out for hot chocolate after skiing. I’d feel my feet come back to life and put all my remaining allowance in the jukebox. Against the unspoken rules of the machine, I’d play “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” as many times as my money could afford.

I couldn’t get over the drum beat. I still can’t.

Video after the jump.