MGMT fans need to sit down. I’ve got some bad news for you. The band you knew and love are no more.Congratulations is a revelation in comparison to its predecessor, 2007’s commercial hit Oracular Spectacular, as it showcases the band in its rawest form, touching on their clear passion for 70s psych-rock rather than focusing on rattling out the next top 40 smash.
OK - Kids, Time to Pretend and Electric Feel were all glorious, top drawer pop but the rest of the album was arduous filler that even the most hardened MGMT fan would have had difficulty in resisting the three tracks mentioned.
Even their live shows seemed somewhat flat compared to the buoyancy of the record, and you could see a red glow radiating from their cheeks when the eager crowd belted out “Kids! Kids! Kids!”
Let’s face it, Congratulations isn’t an easy listen. There are no jump-out singles, as the band suggests, and there is a clear emphasis on taking the listener on a supersonic journey through a fantasy world full of fiery green dragons and pink bubbles.
The album throws the listener straight in at the deep end with the pulsating It’s Working – a dazzler that couldn’t be further away from Time to Pretend. In fact, you wouldn’t even realise it was MGMT.
There’s a lot going on here and it takes a while to get your head around it but it doesn’t take long to realise Congratulations is going to be full of the band’s lust for 70s drug-fuelled psychedelic rock. Are we ready to go back there just yet?
Song for Dan Tracy maintains the pace, bringing back memories of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. With a fast bass line and eerie sound effects, it would fit in perfectly as a backing track to a 60s B-movie. This is definitely one of the album’s stand-out tracks.
Just when you’ve finally thought you were about to hit hyper-space, the duo takes away all gravity and leaves you floating with the delightful Someone’s Missing – a beautiful little ballad that builds into an absolutely huge 70s dancehall anthem that Englebert Humperdink or Andy Williams would be proud of.
Flash Delirium, the album’s first single, is arguably the most determined song they’ve recorded and a brave move. This is pure pop at its best. It doesn’t need a catchy chorus or a skull-embedding melody, it just needs determined vocals, dramatic piano riffs and belting drum beats to propel us to its explosive ending.
Despite the high standard set in the first half of the album, I Found a Whistle leads us to the album’s interlude before the inevitable downward spiral to disappointment.
Whistle is, without a doubt, as mentioned previously, the band at its most emotional ebb. It’s a glorious heartbreaking, stomach churning epic that’s destined for the ending credits for the next chick-flick staring Robert Pattinson.
The duo sing: “Ive got a pistol that’s aimed at your heart/and on dark nights when the moon is right/I could show you the head attached with a scarf/aerophane sorceress, at home obeying the fates/when it's gone, has it gone all the way?” – lyrics that manage to mix such bittersweet melancholy with surreality that only they could get away with.
I Found a Whistle leaves the listener on such a gurning high that the comedown is met with a huge crash.
Siberian Breaks is a 12-minute chokehold of self-indulgent mess. It’s too jam-packed with ideas and rarely goes anywhere. It’s not until the eight minute mark that some life is pumped into the damp squib but by this time the listener has had enough. It’s just not a fun listen, especially slap-bang in the middle of the record.
Brian Eno shows the band in more comical mode, clearly sighting the art-rock legend as an influence, but seems hollow and pretty much identical to Song for Dan Tracy.
Instrumental Lady Dada’s Nightmare is pointless filler of brooding, atmospheric synths and deathly screams until the album’s conclusion, Congratulations, which is an awesome end to a somewhat fulfilling listen.
It’s immersed in glorious 70s fantasy rock and leaves you yearning for the days of hippiedom.
MGMT haven’t made this record to lose fans on purpose, they’ve made it because they want to. The band wants to make a record and push it was far as they can regardless of record label intervention.
It would be interesting to know what went through the heads of the honchos at Sony when they first heard Congratulations. “WHAT THE FUCK?” Probably.
Sure, they will alienate some fans with this release, and lose a few, but they will definitely gain a lot more in return. Finally, they can possess a little credibility as artists rather than shoe-ins for mega bucks returns.
They are right – there are no singles on here. No Kids, no Electric Feel, no Time To Pretend. Those songs sound like they were done by an entirely different band.
Congratulations showcases the band at their most vulnerable and exciting point. They’ve definitely pushed boundaries with this one; a mainstream act with high commercial appeal like MGMT could have milked the cash cow for all its worth with another Oracular Spectacular.
But they haven’t and, apart from one or two duds, this fucking rocks.
PS what is up with the cereal box album cover??
Top 3 from Congratulations:
1. I Found a Whistle
2. Flash Delirium
3. Someone’s Missing
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