Matt & Kim : 'Lessons Learned'
There’s something about male/female duo’s that seems to work. Call it chemistry or call it coincidence, musical history houses within it several such combinations of note – Jack and Meg, Plant and Krauss, Sonny and…
Ok, so every system is flawed, but there’s no denying the charm of a two-sex duet as far as I’m concerned so I was pretty excited at the prospect of hearing ‘Lessons Learned’, the new single from much-hyped Brooklyn pair Matt and Kim, for the first time. Described as ‘genre-busting DIY’ and an act I’ve never had the pleasure of sampling before, I had literally no idea what to expect of the song and, in this scenario, that song needs to grab you and do it fast. That is exactly what it did, a full-throttle drum-beat and sing-along ‘la-la’ vocal the building blocks for a pop-punk song that could well become a festival classic, beautifully melodic throughout with a chorus that can be caught onto even after just the one listen. The vocal, delivered primarily courtesy of the male part of this combination, is a veritable drawl throughout the verse – it reminds me slightly of The Hold Steady – and makes for something that could well turn out to be love/hate for those that catch these on the radio. Students of vocal delivery, pitch and tone might pour scorn over Matt’s style but it is precisely what the song needs to differentiate it from every other pop-punk hybrid you’re likely to hear – it’s his own and you won’t be able to mimic it – but the pair have the sense to bring back the accessible la’s of the intro to provide balance to the song and make the chorus absolutely perfect.
It’s as simple as it is brilliant, this song - the melodic equal of anything Peter, Bjorn and John have yet produced with the swaggered delivery and doubled-up vocals of The Cribs and a harmonious, dreamy centre that somehow slots right in where you’d expect it to stand out – I’m singing it already. This song is sure to be popular and will hopefully provide the springboard for the talented twosome to release similarly superb ideas transferred seamlessly into popular song. One thing is for sure, whatever they do release I’ll be after because any band who have grasped how to make choruses like this are a band worth following.
Boys, grab yourself a girl. Girls, grab yourself a boy. Make a duet – it works.
8/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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