Congratulations (2010)
MGMT
MGMT is a weird band. I think we can all agree on that. They’re not all that remarkably different though; they’re one of those groups that takes a collage of sounds—sounds first pioneered by other artists—and fashions it into something that they can call their own. On Congratulations, those sounds are lifted from late ‘60s and ‘70s psychedelic rock. Through deep reverb, pounding drums, and jittery synthesizers, each song shifts and swirls melodically and rhythmically in some neurotic and indecisive form of songwriting that can both infuriate and fascinate the listener. If you much preferred the first half of their debut Oracular Spectacular, you may belong to the first camp. As the band has previously stated, bouncy pop songs the likes of “Kids” and “Electric Feel” are nowhere to be found. What constitutes the whole of Congratulations is an expansion on the bizarre (and depending on who you talk to, inferior) second half of their debut album. If you enjoyed that, though, then you’re in luck. While the songs generally feel more polished than the experimental ones occupying the previous record, their shape-shifting structure—whether intentional or just plain sloppy—will invariably throw you for a loop just when you were getting into the melody. But maybe that’s just me.
You have to give it to them, though. Especially for a group with one of the most popular debuts of the last few years, the sophomore record is a formidable challenge that has claimed many a band over the history of rock. Brooklynites Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, the two principle members of MGMT, here accompanied by their live band, could have just put out another Oracular Spectacular and called it a day, but that isn’t always guaranteed to produce success. Instead they’ve made something completely new and different, and there’s something admirable about that. Congratulations is bright and mysterious; despite the ambition inherent in the notion of what they’re trying to do here (following up a quirky pop album with a record that includes a 12-minute song certainly isn’t commonplace), rather than repelling the listener, the album tends to suck you into its whirlpool of sound.
Overall, the sound of the record is cleaner and clearer. (Anyone who listened closely to their first album knows that it was deliberately dirty-sounding.) The opening track “It’s Working” is a colorful introduction to the album with a fast and driving rhythm that gives you a good idea of what they’re going for here. At some points, the song slows to a hallucinogenic pace where echoes abound and the drums enter a lethargic state. The track has about three or four different ideas moving around, but it’s nothing compared to “Song for Dan Treacy,” “Flash Delirium,” or the massive “Siberian Breaks” that clocks in at just over 12 minutes. The constant shuffling of musical ideas is nothing like a leitmotif; these are entire snippets of songs you’ll never hear the rest of, cut together and sequenced as one. As you can tell, it can make your head spin. Once you can trace the path of the songs, though, they become a lot of enjoyable and coherent.
The band makes its influences pretty clear, such as in the aforementioned “Song for Dan Treacy,” in reference to Dan Treacy of English outfit Television Personalities, and “Brian Eno,” in reference to, well, Brian Eno. These two tracks move at a dizzying pace, with “Brian Eno” firing off into a frenzy immediately and “Song for Dan Treacy” steadily building to a wonderful sparkling chorus that closes the song. These are examples of MGMT staying somewhat on track. “Someone’s Missing,” however, is the leading archetype of a song with enormous potential that decided that the process was much more important that the result. It slowly mulls about in quaint church-like solitude before being blown open by the beginnings of an exuberant soul song that would be right at home on a Jackson 5 record. And then—fade out. It’s a tease, and there’s something frustrating and disappointing about that.
But it’s difficult to get upset with them. The title track that closes the album is a perfectly appropriate ending, a sign-off of sorts that ends in light applause. There’s a clear confidence in their work here, in part because, truthfully, the band is actually showing its true colors. “Kids” and “Time to Pretend,” two of the stand-out hits from Oracular Spectacular, were actually released back in 2005, three years before their debut. Congratulations is the real MGMT, oddly enough. But there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a solid record from a band that’s not afraid to be themselves, in spite of (or directly due to) the predicable “life in the spotlight” theme oh-so common of sophomore albums. Some songs wither away when they should have kept going, while others go on far too long when they should have ended a while ago (okay, maybe just “Siberian Breaks”), but most importantly, Congratulations shows considerable potential for more carefully developed material. They just need to narrow down their ideas a bit.
7/10
Stand-out Tracks:
“It’s Working”
“Song for Dan Treacy”
“Flash Delirium”
“Brian Eno”
“Congratulations”
