Lightning is the fourth studio album from the indie pop duo Matt & Kim, written, produced, performed and recorded by them in their New York apartment between January and July 2012, using Logic Pro.

The ten-track set is an electronic indie pop album which member Matt Johnson described as being upbeat, while on some tracks being a little darker.

Work on Lightning was done between January 1 and July 2012,[1][2] in Matt and Kim's old apartment on Grand Street in Brooklyn, New York.

The drums were recorded at the studio Rubber Tracks, with Aaron Bastinelli engineering, while the synths were performed and programmed through a MIDI keyboard in Logic.

[5] "It's Alright" includes percussion of a kick drum and tambourine,[1] and was considered by Consequence of Sound as a dance-jazz song.

"[5] "Overexposed" is instrumentated with a quick-moving wobbly right-hand synth, keyboard, bass guitar, kickdrum and hi-hat.

[5] "I Wonder" has a "chopped and screwed beat and dancing piano lines" that "is club pop for the PBR set," according to Paste Magazine.

Pitchfork Media wrote that "the sound of maximalist Top 40 pop, and apply a low-budget, DIY aesthetic to it," was "barely expounded upon on Lightning," and called it, "In the context of Matt & Kim's discography," "inconsequential.

called the album a step-up from Sidewalks, but was "bogged down by the redundancy of Johnson's elementary songwriting,"[19] and Under the Radar found it "annoyingly upbeat.

"[20] The Alternative Press was more negative on the album, writing that most of the songs "beg for remixes, guest vocalists or anything to give them more depth.

"[21] On the more positive side, Entertainment Weekly gave Lightning a B+ grade, saying that "Songs with shotglass-half-full titles like "It's Alright" and "Not That Bad" build to fist-pump choruses, but there's just enough attitude to counter that rah-rah spirit.

"[15] Paste Magazine said the album, "after a few listens, is actually pretty good if you forgive the total banality of its content.