KeyCMND: MGMT
Published by: KeyCMND.com
Date: April 19, 2010
Format: Web (www.keycmnd.com)
Type: Music Review
MGMT – Congratulations
If you can get past the fact that there is nothing like “Electric Feel” or “Kids” or really any remnants of what you thought MGMT used to be, there may be something for you within the strange new walls of Congratulations. In an attempt to sidestep being pigeon-holed and rewriting their debut record, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden shifted gears, packed away their glitter and synths, and delivered a record that’s not so much for listeners wanting a repeat of 2007’s Oracular Spectacular as it is for those interested in following more than just the band’s singles.
Congratulations is part surf-rock, part psychedelic, with little bits of Belle & Sebastian styled folk-pop sprinkled in, and altogether kind of scattered. The album’s first single (though MGMT deny calling it such), “Flash Delirium,” is a linear movement with no repeated chorus, or any repetition for that matter. The song ends up sounding like a bunch of parts—some as random as its predecessor and its successor—that have been casually juxtaposed. Even if one is working well, it’s replaced quickly with whatever comes next. Other numbers, such as “Brian Eno” and opening track “It’s Working,” tend to fall into this same trap—giving Congratulations an overall sound like its creators threw everything at the wall and used it all, instead of only what stuck.
There’s nothing wrong with musicians distancing themselves from previous styles. It’s better to be a band putting a lid on the past and trying new things rather than remaining stuck in some sort of never-ending sophomore slump. “Electric Feel” ran its course so thoroughly that we don’t ever need its reprise, but what comes next for MGMT—no matter what it sounds like—should be more focused. There’s no question of whether MGMT can write songs, but instead, the question has surfaced whether Goldwasser and VanWyngarden will be able to edit their next ideas into some kind of sensible form.
C-