Interview: Matt & Kim

In advance of Matt & Kim's upcoming, sold-out show at Cat's Cradle on Wednesday Oct. 20, Recess' Sanette Tanaka spoke to Matt Johnson about their new album, the group's endearing music videos and sharing a cellphone with your significant other.

So tell me a little more about your new album.

Songs like “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare” and “Daylight” were the starting point going into Sidewalks. We really liked the way those were working, and we think a lot of people did. We released one song, “Cameras,” and a lot of people really liked it but thought it sounded so different. And to me, it didn’t sound that different, but I guess I’ve been working on it for the whole past year, so it may have been a little too gradual for me to notice.

[In creating Sidewalks,] there is a little more production value and whatnot because we did work with a producer and with studios—as opposed to the childhood bedroom that I grew up in, which is where we worked on Grand.

How has your sound evolved?

I think we’re constantly evolving. When we started out this band and recorded our first demo, we were still learning how to play our instruments. Kim and I hopefully have gotten a little bit better—you can kind of follow the whole progression of us learning how to freakin’ play. But in the same sense, we really try to keep things simple. We have our saying, “WWMKD,” which is, “What would Matt and Kim do?” You know... just in case we start getting a little too musician-y. We try to keep it just a little “Matt and Kimmy”—if that can be a verb.

Your lyrics have such a stream-of-consciousness feel to it. Is the songwriting process as spontaneous as it seems?

That’s a lot how it goes. You go a lot on feeling—on what works and what doesn’t, and on deciding, oh, this song is going to be about some bulls*** breaking-up-with-a-girl. We don’t write love songs. Enough people have taken care of that. Also, a lot of times the singer will take care of all the lyrics, but Kim and I write together, which is also sort of bizarre.

[Songwriting] is, in a way, stream-of-consciousness, but I think if you tie the right words together, it can make a whole new meaning in itself. Songs like “Lessons Learned” where the first words are, “Tape holds things that cannot stick”—I like that line, but it can mean something else, too. I want people to carve their own meanings out of things.

Let’s talk about your videos in the last few minutes. They’re so interesting. In “Lessons Learned,” you two strip down in Times Square. In “5K,” your arms extend and you chop them off. Where do you get your inspiration?

As far as “Lessons Learned,” that was an idea I had come up with. At the time, I really wanted to make the most simple video we could that was still poignant. I wanted one shot, one camera—and I wondered, what would hold someone’s attention for three-and-a-half minutes? Well, two people stripping all their clothes off in the most public place in the United States: that could sell beyond watching the video.

Kim and I fall into a “cute” category a lot. I mean, we’re going to be ourselves, and being ourselves means Kim is always going to be smiley and we’re going to have a good time. We enjoy what we do and we let that show, but we like to counterbalance that. Rather than shoot videos where we’re on a swing-set with lollipops, how about we shoot something with tons of fake blood or with us stripping naked? We want to balance things out. Even though we’ve got to be ourselves, let’s not play into that.

Well said. One more question. Do you have an idea for a video for “Cameras” yet?

Yes, we do. We were going to shoot before we left on this tour, but we got a little too busy. So in November we’re shooting an idea that will definitely make some people angry, but hopefully it’ll make more people happy than it makes angry.