Released on Sept. 17 of this year, MGMT’s eponymous third album, MGMT, offers something incredible for fans of its predecessors, Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations.
After its enterence into the music world in 2007 with Oracular Spectacular, MGMT has skyrocketed to the forefront of the modern rock scene, quickly becoming a summer playlist darling and an acid-tripping poster child for a new generation of psychedelic rock.
Instant hits such as “Kids” and “Electric Feel” have graced clubs and backyards alike, while receiving significant airplay throughout the country and around the world.
Musicians Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser met and formed the band while studying at Wesleyan University. They received praise from countless critics for their unique sound and inevitably accrued a loyal fan base along the way to commercial success.
Over time, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser felt that the “synth-pop duo” label that was often attached to them was not an accurate or desirable one. Much to the chagrin of their record label, they set out to make music that better reflected what they listened to and what they felt their style really was.
At times, MGMT seems like an elaboration on the more psychedelic, second half of its first album. However, it also shares a more accessible taste of the feel found on its follow-up.
Songs like the mid-tempo, spacy “Alien Days” and the hum-and-sway tune, “Plenty of Girls in the Sea,” would not feel out of place on Oracular Spectacular.
Conversely, many songs certainly embody the retro vibe of Congratulations. Acid jam “Mystery Disease,” “Introspection” and Doors-esque first single, “Your Life is a Lie,” sound straight out of the sixties.
Congratulations was a revitalized, five-piece band with a refined and more expansive fan base that was more than willing to take with it the psychedelic journey that defined it.
“[Congratulations has] a more unified and introspective feel, a good deal darker, denser and less instantly accessible than the debut,” reports the Chicago Tribune.
Condemned by some and embraced by others, this contrast has left everyone wondering the same thing: What lies ahead for MGMT? Will its new album return to the airwave royalty that characterized its first album, or will it dive even deeper into obscurity than its second one?
Despite this uncertainty, the band has clearly evolved into its third album. As “Cool Song No. 2” marches and pulses on, fans will marvel at its maturity.
MGMT’s growth is especially evident on album standout “A Good Sadness,” a sweeping track of scattered synth and dripping layers of instrumentation.
MGMT is not as consistently heavy hitting as its predecessors. Nevertheless, while the group’s third effort may not cater to partiers, it has succeeded in creating new sounds and textures while paying a progressive homage to old ones, a concept that any fan of its past work can appreciate.
Even more importantly, it has made a bold album undeniably true to itself as a band.
This album is evidence that MGMT will continue sailing onward whether audiences decide to come aboard for the trip or not.
Look out for MGMT’s Virgin Mobile Freefest performance this Saturday, Sept. 21. Merriweather Post Pavillion, located in nearby Columbus, is lucky to have this act in their lineup, as the band is sure to impress.
