Sidewalks
Artist: Matt & Kim
Label: Fader
Time: 10 tracks/36 minutes

If you're not familiar with Matt & Kim, you might be familiar with "Daylight," the infectious lead single off their previous release, Grand.  Their blend of Kim Schifino's hip-hop and dance beats with vintage synths and Matt Johnson's woeful tenor helped "Daylight" become a mild radio hit, and now the duo is back with their follow-up, Sidewalks.

Thanks to the reliance on keyboards and synthesizers, there's a definite 80's influence on the band's sound which normally turns me off, but Matt & Kim come up with melodies that are so stick-in-your-head catchy that I end up being perfectly willing to forgive them for embracing a mostly derivative decade of music.  I like that the overall sound is very simple, and that the songs aren't buried under an avalanche of overproduction, something that happens on so many pop records.

Sidewalks is a somewhat better produced record, taking off some of the edginess that you can hear on _Grand_.  For the most part, this doesn't affect the record negatively, although it does reduce "Good for Great" to the level of pop cheese you'd hear on an average Top 40 radio station.  Fortunately, the hits are much greater than the misfires.  The standouts here are "Cameras," the first single, as well as "Red Paint" and "Wires."

Matt Johnson's lyrics are mostly personal with some New York-centric references thrown in, reflecting his familiarity with his hometown.  There's a lot of talk of love and affection and some that seem to be recalling a fond memory.  There's nothing I heard that will provoke deep thought, but I think the main point of this kind of music is to just sit back and enjoy the melodies.  Or get up and dance if you want.  I'm sure that would be just fine as well.

By Eric Landfried 1/14/11