MGMT - MGMT

It is a fact that MGMT must (and probably have) resign themselves to that all material put out by the Connecticut duo now will be put under scrutiny simply for not being Time to Pretend or Kids. That sad fact was made obvious with the ambivalence with which 2010's Congratulations was met: it remains divisive to this day, but was arguably a greater album than Oracular Spectacular. It goes without saying the singles were pretty unlikely to remain in the public subconscious.

Where other sudden indie-breakthroughs have continued to tread familiar territory with their difficult follow-ups (Empire of the Sun, Florence + the Machine, Ladyhawke), this pair have taken every step possible to distance themselves from their poppy roots and have unveiled a love of psychedelia. I guess if you squint closely at OS you can see shades of the genre, but it couldn't have prepared you for what was to come any worse.

“We joked about how it would be really funny to achieve that kind of fame and then ruin it in the most spectacular way possible.”

I guess they're laughing, then.
 

It all begins so promisingly; 'Alien Days' is a shrill, childlike opener that finds a child narrative opening up a book of squelching synths, scrapes and a great glam-rock inspired drumbeat. Its lyrics are an engaging tale of childhood intuitiveness, drug-taking and psychosis, but above all there's a discernable melody. Hold onto that, because it only goes downhill from here. Even just glancing at the titles. 'Cool Song No.2' invites in a grinding, jungle sound to accompany their paranoia and bemoaning of true freedom; indeed, the lyrics vary between astute ("When they tell you the extent of the vice/ Then the prime time mission is to choke the statistician") and absurd ("What if the beast escapes (apes have it good)?"), and it's all quite intriguing in a smoke and mirrors sort of way, but mostly for its beat. By 'Mystery Disease' they call upon the usual psychedelic tropes: organs, drowned vocals, pounding, unrelenting sequences. It's just not very interesting.

A cover of Faine Jade's 'Introspection' really hammers across that "look how obscure our influences are" tone (his version amassed a colossal 26 listeners this week over on last.fm), and whilst melodic, it's a little dated. The mercifully brief 'Your Life is a Lie' then punches in vain, failing at being both eye-opening and memorable. It passes for catchy merely by default of being the shouty, bold number before the following cacophony of self-indulgence.

'A Good Sadness', 'Astro-Mancy', 'I Love You Too, Death' (ugh, that fucking title) and 'An Orphan of Fortune' all blend into one unlistenable, unenjoyable wall of stubborn pratting about. The brief respite from this is the slow-clapping 'Plenty of Girls in the Sea', arguably the album's Yellow Submarine.
 

Ultimately MGMT now come across as a pair of cunts. The whole rejection of their debut material - whilst, most likely, rolling in the rewards it reaped - has spawned this wholly unlikeable project seemingly only set out to alienate its listeners. The ideas banded about in the name of psychedelia are uninteresting and not really delivered with any motivation on their part, and whilst it's a tired criticism of the band, it does feel like being awkward for awkward's sake. Heading over to their fansites and pages on social media is truly laughable and filled with idiots propagating the idea that their refusal to "make accessible music" (a legit. quote) is commendable. Far better bands are now putting out psych-rock albums and MGMT are now sadly equatable with OK Go in that "we have an interesting music video but a shit ton of mediocrity to listen to" bracket.

Rating: 3/10
Highlights: Alien Days; Plenty of Girls in the Sea; Cool Song No.2
Avoid: everything else

Artwork Watch: Someone's been taking ideas from Oasis.
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