Congratulations
MGMT
Congratulations
Weeks after its release and I’m loving MGMT’s strange new sophomore album, Congratulations, more with each listen. I hear the Zombies influence, a few songs even making me daydream about a Zombies/Of Montreal collaboration. The vocals sometimes remind of disco-era Mick Jagger, but only if he had a little less Mick in his Jagger. They remind my girlfriend of Prince, which I also agree with. And their songs also remind me of this and that, as does their look and general approach and appeal. They’re artsy pop music historians disguised as hipsters - the price young artists pay in 2010.
All those familiarities we came to know on the band’s debut, Oracular, are less obvious on Congrats. The sound here is also less instant, more clouded, expansive and odd, which led many reviewers to dismiss the record as inaccessible pop music upon its release. But wait, these songs are, for the most part, accessible as hell. Maybe not in an "Electric Feel" over-the-top sort of way, but this is definitely a poppy record full of hooks, riffs and fun, memorable moments. That the general vibe is so out there only makes the repeat button more interesting (and essential).
So are these seemingly hip kids, as so many have said, simply getting weird to be cool in the face of stardom? That's not the feeling I get. I like to think that they - a then unknown band - made an uber poppy album (Oracular) so that they could later make an album like Congrats and have people actually hear it and think about it and talk about it and argue about it. From t-ball to the majors, and it worked. And they did a fine job of making credible pop a couple of years ago, their debut standing as one of the best pop records of recent memory. But now they're artists, making exceptionally weird music that is also somehow often accessible. I actually wish the new album was less poppy and more weird. I wish there were more 10-plus minute songs and freak-out moments. Less regard for pop structure and general of-the-time appeal.
This shiny collection of left turns works because its makers are not just pop historians and perfectly capable musicians, but because, I’d suggest, the boys behind MGMT are genuinely strange people. Think 70s era Bowie. MGMT aren’t the big box stars or Pitchfork heroes we once thought they would be. They’re something else. They’re adventurous, and this is an adventurous carnival ride of a record. I miss the extra punch producer David Fridmann offered on Oracular, but the production sound here is perfectly fine. Everything is perfectly fine - because none of it, not a single second, is predictable, boring or inauthentic. As it turns out, MGMT are the real deal; art freaks who deeply understand their craft and are pretty good at playing their instruments. With Congrats MGMT have become the rare bizarro pseudo-art band in this oversaturated Pitchfork era that deserves to release records. 8.5/10
Written by G. William Locke