Matt and Kim’s latest album is the ideal soundtrack to the end of a night of revelry with one hundred of your closest friends, all slurring and clasping shoulders while singing along to Matt’s kitschy lyrics backed by Kim’s rhythmic drums. Although it’s filled with similar boisterous sounds to those found on the punk-pop duo’s previous album Grand, Sidewalks is coated with sweeter sugary-pop production. This is a slicker album than Grand, notably less lo-fi, but it still maintains that earnest Matt and Kim joyful sound.
Matt and Kim
Sidewalks
Fader
The tracks are as saturated in as much color and funk as the splashy cover art: a snapshot of urban decay, with nondescript, sagging buildings painted with messy strokes of red and blue. How representative of an album awash in bright sounds and optimism.
Sidewalks‘s first single “Cameras” embodies the album’s triumphant spirit. Slathered in horns and heavy with Kim’s drums, it has a surprisingly down home hip-hop swagger. The track is bouncy and deliciously synthy, with Matt’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics describing the quintessential bohemian lifestyle of friends piling into a funky colored van while he belts out delightfully cheesy lyrics like “Sixteen of our friends / a five-seat bright red van / curbside view / turn off of Grand.” The track is a dance powerhouse that has definite anthem potential for legions of fans. The track “Block After Block” is in the same vein as “Cameras.” Interspersed with shouts and a climatic chorus, Matt is bright and larger than life.
One of the hiccups on the album is the awkwardly melancholy “Northeast.” The song is marred by some misplaced sleigh bells, and Matt isn’t vocally talented enough to handle the range this ballad requires — he comes off whiny and uncomfortable. Although it’s commendable that Matt and Kim are branching out from their usually insurmountable brightness, “Northeast” sounds remarkably out of place on the colorful album, especially considering Kim’s drums are absent until the last dozen or so seconds of the track.
While most of Sidewalks uses a similar format, Matt’s joyful vocals and Kim’s killer drums sometimes cause the tracks to blend together. “Ice Melts,” however, doesn’t succumb to this formula with Kim’s thunderous drums accompanied by horns and well timed handclapping. Despite Matt’s uncharacteristically melancholy lyrics (“Ceilings falling down / I gave, I took, I’ll try”), there are still cracks of sincere optimism shining through this ultimately uplifting foot-stomper.
If Sidewalks had a thesis statement it would undoubtedly be found on the keyboard- and beat-heavy “Wires.” Matt sings, “It’s burning down / let’s keep it up / flames they grow stronger / the louder the song.” When the track’s crescendo finally breaks into a manic mix of synthy keyboards and Kim’s drumming, it’s easy to see that Sidewalks has a pretty simple philosophy: Turn it up.