By Christopher Smith
If you are currently giving your first listen to MGMT’s new album, “Congratulations”, you’ve probably found yourself surprised. I’d like to think you are pleasantly surprised, but that’s not a guarantee. Yes, this sounds like MGMT. Yes, there’s strings and synths and processions like you expected. However, the style is very different from any expectations you might have had.
You might think after the first few tracks that they were the exception to the MGMT style. However, by the end of the album you’ll rethink MGMT altogether. Keep waiting for that dancey synth you expected (“Brian Eno” is as close as you are going to get) because the sudden switch to pop-psychedelic dominates the album from start to finish. The short version: no one is going to be reiterating MGMT’s similarities to The Killers or Kings of Leon anytime soon. For people who expected (perhaps even demanded) “Kids,” “Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters” or “Electric Feel,” try and keep an open-mind because there is a lot to enjoy in the album.
I didn’t think “It’s Working” was a strong opener and doesn’t establish first impressions very well. Frankly, it sounded generic. Ask any indie band to produce 70‘s era synth and pysch and you might get similar tracks. Don’t discard it completely, because the chorus itself is haunting. However, right off it established MGMT as a bit lost in their own creativity (I suppose it comes with the turf of reinventing yourself).
In fact, it’s not until “Flash Delirium” (which the band has put up for free download) that MGMT finds its way through the psych maze they decided to put themselves in. I would say the previous track “Someone’s Missing” breaks the maze as well, but the song fades off and ends at a uncomfortably short 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Just when it started getting good.
“Siberian Breaks” is a microcosm for the entire album. It hits a lot of the same things the album wants to as a whole, from 70’s pysch-pop to the mesmerizing haunting noises that weave from start to finish. If you are one of those people who downloads or streams one track before making an album purchase, that’s probably the one for you. Besides the fact that it’s 12 minutes of variety, you’ll get what MGMT is trying to do with their album, insofar as the sound and vocals go.
Bands like MGMT need to be careful with their second album. They obviously put a great deal of thought into “Congratulations.” In fact, it’s admirable. The all important sophomore debut, which either establishes the fan base or leaves fans alienated, isn’t usually the place to experiment. Coldplay can switch things up because there are people out there who will listen to them no matter what they do. So when they produced an album like “Viva La Vida”, it was of no great concern.
MGMT is brave with only one album as reference.
I personally won’t throw out the album simply because it is not “Oracular Spectacular,” but people who had clear expectations for MGMT won’t be impressed. I’m betting more people will get comfortable with the shift as time goes on, but the word on the street seems that reception is mixed. People have now heard two MGMTs. Some people will embrace the new and different, while others will turn to the first album for nostalgia. It is up for the band to decided which one they are. Of course, they could go folk in their next album too.
