Album: MGMT
Artist: MGMT
Label: Columbia Records
Release Date: Sept. 17
Grade: C-
MGMT's arrogance deserves applause.
Unfortunately, the band's self-titled album, MGMT, provides little room for a full understanding of why its conceited tenacity prevails - like the football player who has never played a match but is the first to tell everyone about his position.
As a band, MGMT has always had a knack for experimentation - playing with almost every tone and genre within reaching distance. After a 3.5-year hiatus, fans expected a solid direction on its third album - a settling down into MGMT's proper music nitty-gritty.
What listeners are given is a mess.
Don't get me wrong - the album is a mess that's laced with some nostalgic rhythms, big-drum sounds and playful aesthetic, but it's still a mess.
The opening track, "Alien Days," is disappointing in its basic pop sound that's reminiscent of MGMT's immature 'this is our decision to live fast and die young' attitude, which was overused on its albums Time to Pretend and Congratulations. As a track, it epitomizes the album's chaotic state through complicated chord changes and a peculiar psych-pop-meets-modernism sound.
As a single, I can find praise for it; the song presents MGMT's desire to produce a sound that speaks to a musical niche. It suggests band members are writing music for themselves and their fans instead of aiming to top the charts. As a single, it's accessible and reminiscent, but as an album opener, it's confusing and misleading.
Despite the disappointing start of the album, there are some tracks that showcase MGMT's strong points. "Introspection" offers the listener a 21st-century take on the Bowie-esque, '60s-sci-fi sound whilst offering the listener advice on the search and acceptance of identity. Even with the strong rhythm and eclectic sound, the song is tiring and strange in its entirety.
"Your Life is a Lie" picks up the remnants of how we used to know and love MGMT. The song is egocentric in its lyrics with a dominant, intricate cowbell sound that provides an interesting dimension. The problem is there's no jaw-dropping innovation and excitement.
The tracks begin with interest and hope, yet they seem to dwindle into the 'nothing special' category pretty quickly.
"I Love You Too, Death" just doesn't work. The rhythmic pulse MGMT relied upon throughout the album is so weak that you can tell the track is going to fail after the first 30 seconds. The lyrics and background sounds are strong as lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden sings his heart out about death, love and loneliness (the three necessities for a predictable, overdone psych-pop song). The rhythm is a necessity that could have resuscitated this track's deteriorating heartbeat.
If we take that song out of the equation, the latter half of the album can be commended. The band clearly begins to take a deeper, more unpolished route. As far as confusion goes, "A Good Sadness" will leave you scratching your head with a what-did-I-just-spend-five-minutes-of-my-life-listening-to feeling bouncing around your brain.
To understand, and therefore appreciate, the track's pure brilliance, it needs a couple of listens. The same can be said about "Astro-Mancy." But when the heady combination of well-written lyrics and dynamic rhythms sink in, these two tracks really are worth a great deal of praise.
MGMT is trying to do too much and be too many things in one album.
The whole album is too over thought. It's a confusing mess of un-corresponding tracks and predictability in the worst form. Ironically, "Plenty of Girls" seems to address the problem that fails the album in three lines:
"The surgeon performs precise little cuts/ But he's never perfect/ He's thinking too much."
Unfortunately, MGMT has taken solipsism to a new level with the album. Had it strove for true music through imperfection, the band would have had a winner on its hands. But it didn't.
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