If you’re ever feeling down or are having an unusually bad day, the exuberant AltPop songs of duo Matt and Kim offer a kind of instant anti-depressant where the only side-effect is wanting to listen to more and dance. And if you’re going through an extended rough patch emotionally, while not guaranteed (seek pro help first, of course, if things are especially dark), it’s hard to imagine how seeing Matt and Kim’s wondrously communal and spectacularly effervescent live show wouldn’t help shake loose at least a little of your funk.
Kim Schifino and Matt Johnson first met in the early aughts while they were studying illustration and film, respectively, at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. After graduation, they became romantically involved and moved in together. It was only then that they began exploring music as an artform, with Johnson learning piano and Schifino learning drums. Playing as just a duo (with both singing), the twosome’s party-starting music and live presence became a hit at shindigs around Brooklyn, which encouraged them to keep building the project.
Matt and Kim’s burgeoning gift for meshing engaging, neon-radiant Pop hooks with mesmeric modern Dance/Hip Hop beats and tracked Electro enhancement has since served them well. Combined with the infectious positivity and incessant firecracker energy of its concert persona, the duo has gone from warehouse throw-downs to becoming a consistent highlight of some of North America’s biggest music festivals (Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bunbury, etc.). The word-of-mouth “you have to see this” chain that continuously churns around their concert appearances, as well as the jones that showgoers develop after experiencing their first show, has helped the couple build a zealously devoted and ever-expanding army of Matt and Kim stans that multiplies with every tour.
In May, Matt and Kim released its sixth studio album, Almost Everyday, which was written during some unexpected and uncharacteristic downtime after Schifino’s suffered a serious knee injury in 2017. Due to the circumstances (and the lingering political climate that was developing at the time), Almost Everyday feels a little more introspective and thoughtful, but the melodic pull remains super high and, despite the occasional relative cloudiness, there are still plenty of bangers, including the strutting, sunshine-oozing single “Glad I Tried.”
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This article appears in Sep 12-19, 2018.
