MGMT – Congrautlations (Columbia)
3/5
By: Adam Hartley
In this Simon Cowell commercial sale fuelled music world which we now inhabit there are very few bands who really try to push the boundaries. Modern music is bemoaned for being too samey, so why is it that when something different comes along it is immediately met with much dissatisfaction?
In Oracular Spectacular MGMT created a radio friendly psychedelic twist on modern pop-indie music that breathed life into new music and, unfortunately for their second album, set a very high standard.
With any band who possess that sort of creative talent it’s obvious that the follow up will be a drastic move away from what is expected - just look at The Klaxons, whose second album has been repeatedly scrapped by the label. With the success of the first album MGMT’s label no doubt thought that they were in for some easy money, so when the band announced their intention to release no singles from its follow up, it must have come as a huge kick in the balls.
With all the hype surrounding its release it actually comes as a big shock when you realise that the new MGMT album is... actually pretty good. The decision to have no singles becomes immediately understandable after the first listen. As a whole the album really comes together and flows through tempo and style changes merging into what has now become classic MGMT - a sort of amalgamation of Talking Heads, Radiohead and Think Tank-era Blur.
There are stand out moments on the album, namely ‘Someone’s Missing’, ‘I Found a Whistle’, and the title track, but in amongst all the chaos of different styles there’s also an epic 12 minute venture in the form of ‘Siberian Breaks’, which seems to act as a juncture into the more experimental side of the album, starting with a simple acoustic guitar and ending in a prog-rock type encapsulation of keyboards and synths.
With the final (and title) track of the album comes an unexpected bitter twist hidden amongst hints of Talking Heads-like keyboards and soft melodic vocals. The song observes all they have achieved and gained as a band thus far, rounded off with the ironic and sad fact that all they needed was a “congratulations”...
Artists in this article: Mercury Rev
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