Review Summary: Twelve minutes of a rejuvenated duo trying out something a little different.
Ah, Matt and Kim. The party people. The cheeriest duo I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live. It’s feel good music, what they make. That’s always been apparent. But as much as I can appreciate sunny, positive tunes, it can get old fast. When
Sidewalks came out in 2010, the new, slick production was a tad foreign, but immensely exciting. It remains my favorite album of theirs, the production style meshing awesomely with the new songs they’d banged out. But follow up
Lightning was very much more of the same. Two or three standout tracks and a bunch of filler that didn’t live up to the full, care-free party potential I envision Matt and Kim in. And
New Glow? Well, they had already run the slick, inoffensive, electro-pop track too many times. It felt like they weren’t even trying anymore. A little bit of a hip-hop influence wasn’t enough to say they were doing something different.
Enter the four track EP,
We Were the Weirdos. Man, what a nice breath of fresh air! It may just be an EP, and we don’t know what’s coming next. But one thing that remains true is the tone is the same - sunny, simple, something to sing along to. Have a good time and keep the party going. The thing that’s changed is the approach. Not entirely, of course! The disposition is still relatively upbeat, we’re talking about Matt and Kim here. But on
WWTW, the simple melodies have taken a fuller, more energetic tone. The production is more nuanced than it was on
New Glow and
Lightning, and the duo truly feel rejuvenated. There’s an element of rawness here that hasn’t been shown since the
Grand - Sidewalks era through Schafino’s care-free drumming style, and guitars are thrown into the mix on the opening and closing track. ‘Fall To Pieces’ and especially ‘Please No More’ come off as pop-punk put through the Matt and Kim machine. ‘Let’s Run Away’ finally puts those hip-hop inspired attempts on New Glow in a fitting spot, behind a cacophony of crashing cymbals and admittedly predictable M&K lyrics. Closer ‘Haunting Me’ is as inter-personal as it gets, a mid-tempo song trying to find an answer for a partner, just out of reach. The chorus kicks in at the right times, and even though it’s been done a thousand times before, it feels new for Matt and Kim.
In short, perhaps Matt and Kim will finally leave behind the bland sheen of the past five years and reinvent themselves. Perhaps this is just a one off. But if you’re a fan whose interest was waning, this is worth a listen. Even with its faults, even though it’s a mere twelve minutes, it feels like we’ve finally seen the third chapter of a duo over a decade in the making.
