New Glow

New Glow is the fifth studio album by Matt and Kim, released on April 7, 2015. Critical reception of the album was mixed upon release.

New Glow
Studio album by Matt & Kim
Released	April 7, 2015
Genre	Indie pop, electronic
Length	27:47
Label	Harvest (US), Virgin EMI (International)
Producer	Lars Stalfors, Jesse Shatkin
Matt & Kim chronology
Lightning (2012) New Glow (2015) WE WERE THE WEIRDOS EP (2016)

Composition

New Glow embraces much more elements of mainstream styles such as hip hop and electronic dance music than Matt and Kim's previous punk-influenced works,[1][2][3] through there are still components punk featured on the record.[2] It opens with "Hey Now", containing a pounding drum beat, handclaps, low-octave brass instruments, group chants and an air horn in its instrumentation.[4][2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	52/100[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Alternative Press	[6]
The A.V. Club	C-[7]
Consequence of Sound	C-[2]
Exclaim!	6/10[4]
musicOMH	[8]
Now	NN[9]
Pitchfork Media	4.6/10[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Under the Radar	[12]

New Glow garnered mixed reviews from critics upon release, garnering an aggregate 52 out of 100 from Metacritic based on nine reviews.[5] Calling it the act's least enjoyable record so far, Allmusic journalist Tim Sendra felt that the album's departure from a less punk-influenced style to a more polished and mainstream sound caused it to lose the crazy energy and spirit that heavily contributed to the quality of their past releases.[1] Jon Dolan, a critic for Rolling Stone, gave it a similar rating, writing "their all-smiles assault can be adorable, at least in moderate doses. But unless you're the kind of person who throws your hands in the air to a salvo like, "We're riding bikes through red lights/We're bulletproof," the cuteness starts to wear thin pretty fast."[11]

Corey Henderson of Exclaim! praised New Glow as a fun album. However, he felt that the album should've had more of a hip hop sound which he called its best aspect than a bit of a tiresome clean casual sound that fits with some of the tracks but render uninteresting on others.[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hey Now"	2:50
2.	"Stirred Up"	2:41
3.	"Can You Blame Me"	2:32
4.	"Hoodie On"	2:24
5.	"Make A Mess"	2:11
6.	"Killin' Me"	3:09
7.	"World Is Ending"	3:15
8.	"Get It"	3:02
9.	"Not Alone"	3:02
10.	"I See Ya"	2:41

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[13]	33
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[14]	3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[15]	5

References

1. Sendra, Tim. "New Glow – Matt and Kim". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
2. Flynn, Katherine (April 2, 2015). "Matt and Kim – New Glow". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
3. Sorendino, Anthony. "Matt and Kim – New Glow". AbsolutePunk. SpinMedia. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
4. Henderson, Corey (April 8, 2015). "Matt & Kim New Glow". Exclaim!. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
5. "New Glow – Matt and Kim". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
6. Alternative Press. May 2015, p.98
7. Mincher, Chris (April 7, 2015). "On their fifth LP, Matt And Kim are vibrant but vapid". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
8. Murphy, John (April 11, 2015). "Matt & Kim – New Glow". musicOMH. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
9. Edwards, Samantha (April 22, 2015). "Matt and Kim". Now. Now Communications. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
10. Rytlewski, Evan (April 14, 2015). "Matt & Kim: New Glow". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
11. Dolan, Jon (April 7, 2015). "Matt & Kim's New Album: New Glow". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
12. Davis, Hays (April 9, 2015). "Matt and Kim: New Glow (Harvest)". Under the Radar. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
13. "Matt & Kim Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
14. "Matt & Kim Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
15. "Matt & Kim Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2015.