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 make my mine on the stovetop with olive oil and dill. It’s not something I eat in front of strangers. Popcorn is loud and hard to wrangle. It’s something I do in my dimly lit living room, watching Jim Jarmusch films, sitting cross-legged, as Tom Waits lights up the screen in Down By Law. If you were to see me eating popcorn, you would see me in my least guarded state. Knowing someone in this reciprocating defenselessness is all I’ve ever wanted.
Video after the jump.
