It’s hard to envision what a bad day looks like for Matt and Kim. Like, I mean, seriously. Listen to their new record, Grand. It’s literally always happy. This is a very sunshine-y pop record are an aggressively poppy pop band who, despite sticking to a pretty well-worn pop music formula, make this music their own by injecting it with an unmatched, hyperactive, sometimes annoying energy. The couple don’t really sound like they’re super-thrilled about growing up, which explains why their music brims with such unfettered, juvenile energy.
In general, Kim Schifino is good for providing a pulse-pounding beat; on every song, she kills the drum kit as though it’s her last time playing (in the good way). She’s clearly the more talented musician of the two: Matt Johnson’s barebones synthesizer work and nasal, joyous whine don’t really measure up to Schifino’s powerhouse drumming; even if the coupling is novel. Either way, situate the whole thing in the pair’s love of the basics and fawning, giddy respect for convention, and I’ll admit, it doesn’t sound like much on its face. And I’ll also admit that I thought the duo’s debut didn’t sound particularly unique or well-tailored to the pair themselves.
But somehow, the whole manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. This is an imminently approachable record. It’s so innocent, it borders immature. “Don’t Slow Down” expresses what seems to be the band’s mantra: they’re all about having fun, however simple or senseless it may be. “Daylight” is the obvious winner here, a tune destined to grace the playlists of skinny-jean wearing indie kids for years to come. The sunny verses and a winning, soaring choruses are proof that Johnson is going to be in his element this record. And he really is. On Grand, Johnson’s vocal performances are more assured and less self-aware, compensating for his still-not-great keyboard work, and staying out of the way of his wife’s show-stopping drumming. “Don’t Slow Down” is a frenetic, scintillating stomp with fiercely syncopated synthesizers (even the odd glissando in there, check our boy out). It’s the sort of song that people (not me) dance alone to.
To a large extent, your opinion of this record and this band will almost depend 100% on what you value in music and what you expect to get out of it. This certainly doesn’t sound like a band that gives a lot of thought to the theoretical quality of their craft. They don’t seem to have much time for thoughtful craft, but they do know how to write a pop song, albeit a conventional one. They have an ear for a hook, and they pack this record full of them.
But let’s get back to reality for a second. Before you think this is the Never Learned to Swim Cinderella Story of the year, let me give you the bad news about Grand. This record doesn’t just lack any sense of sophistication, it seems to turn up its nose at it. I think Matt and Kim probably conflate being sophisticated with being a stick in the mud and therefore with being shitty. It’s an obviously erroneous assertion, and their unrelenting energy makes them sound at times like a couple of kids who got their hands on a little too much sugar and then on some instruments. Annoying. Very, very, very annoying.
The absolute truth about Grand? It’s complicated. Sometimes I’ll listen to this record the whole way through and tap my feet and smile like a sixteen year old. Other times, I’ll roll my eyes like an elitist douchebag thirty year old. So how does the real, twenty-two year-old me feel? Somewhere in between. I feel like I’m rapidly getting too old to enjoy this kind of aggressively carefree music, and at my more cynical moments, I can’t help feeling like Matt and Kim are a little too old to be making it.
So sure, for all its charms and wit, for its devil-may-care attitude, Grand is a record that you need to be in the mood for if you’re going to enjoy it. When you’re in the mood, you won’t be able to get enough. When you’re not, you’ll want to burn every copy of this record ever made. In my mind, a record shouldn’t demand that much out of its listeners on an emotional-psychological level. But then again, we don’t have to listen.
6.3 / 10.0
