MGMT - "Little Dark Age"

MGMT ladies and gentlemen!  The Synth Pop / Psych Pop duo made up of Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser who became an instant hit with their 2008 breakthrough album "Oracular Spectacular".  This album was a Synth Pop monolith, with everything from Indie Rompers like "Kids", the ridiculously smooth "Electric Feel", and "Time To Pretend" which proved the duo was a little more interested in Psychedelic rhythms deep down.  But if you listened to the rest of the album, that wasn't too hard to find out.  There was "Pieces of What" which sounded like an honest to God Rolling Stones cover and the 4-minute bad acid trip that was "Future Reflections" certainly helped as well. Overall, I loved this record, and I really very excited to hear what MGMT would do next.  In 2010, I got my answer with their follow up album "Congratulations".  This album was radically different, with MGMT trading in their Synth-Pop Anthems for a Psychedelic Surf Rock journey.  "Congratulations" is a vibrant, twisted journey with everything from 12 minute-Multi passage epics, to....well 4 minute multi-passage epics.  While I personally do really love this album though as a follow-up, it also took me about 2 years to truly understand it and appreciate it.  It's a wild one to say the least.  So much so that I was so excited to hear their 2013 album "MGMT".  And boy, this album is quite frankly an absolute mess.  There are some really great elements here, don't get me wrong.  Like, I love the space blues of "Alien Days", the multiple layers of "Mystery Disease", the stunning production on "Astro-Mancy". even the oddly placed Garage Rocker "Your Life Is A Lie".  But the rest of this album is nearly unlistenable.  MGMT here seem less focused on having fun and having a good freak out while they're at it, and much more focused on Conspiracy Theories.  Which in retrospect, sounds like something that would have worked great for them.  But this album is muddled and messy, and one of the bigger disappointments of the 2010's. So, it's been a hot minute since we've heard from MGMT, 5 years to be exact.  And from these opening singles, I can't be more excited to hear this album.  It's a seriously dark and twisted new route for sure, but MGMT sound truly revitalized.  Let's chat about this.

( A personal favorite of mine!)

This album starts out with “She Works Out Too Much”, and it certainly doesn’t waste anytime propelling us into an incredibly bizarre, colorful, Psychedelic world.  Overall, I find this track so damn entertaining and hilarious.  I love all of the exercising references and all the analogies to relationships.  It’s just so jolly, but there’s a very otherworldly sense to this as well.  It’s almost alien, which MGMT have obviously given off in the past.  It’s bizarre, quirky, and easily one of the strangest intros I’ve heard all year.  But on top of that, I just love how sleek and smooth this one is, I haven’t heard this duo working with such great production for so long.  “She Works Out Too Much” is the start of a very dark new sound, but you have thought they had been working with this their entire life.  The attention to detail is incredible, and overall I couldn’t be happier with this as an intro.  Now, “Little Dark Age” is a whole different animal.  The first thing you’ll notice is just how incredibly minimal and cold this one is.  But MGMT still makes it oddly catchy and danceable.  And yes, there is part of this that comes off as a cover of some 80’s Post Punk tune, but it’s so much more evil sounding and dangerous underneath.  This is some of the darkest Psych Pop that I’ve heard in ages, but it’s also one of the catchiest tunes MGMT have pushed out in years.  Now, yes, at a glance this is far from the MGMT that we’ve known for years.  It’s much less glossy, very stripped down and almost Low-Fi.  But it sticks with you, and it’s incredibly hard to place in a way.  There are grooves, gore, and this incredibly kinky undertone that’s working fantastically.   MGMT switch their breezy Psych Pop into some retro Psych Folk on “When You Die”.  Now, it’s funny, I’ve tweeted and ranted to anyone with ears that this album has such an Ariel Pink flair to it.  And what do you know, he actually co-wrote this one, and I for one really am not shocked at all.  I love just how angry and pissed off this one is beyond its very sunny exterior.  It’s almost cynical and incredibly sarcastic in a way, and I love that.  But I wouldn’t say that MGMT let any of that melt away too much from what’s happened here.  Like, there isn’t anything about this that comes off overblown or too ridiculous, and it’s incredibly entertaining.  I have to say though, I’m impressed with just how MGMT have transitioned to this sound.  There’s no awkward footing at all, they just sound so natural with it.  I can only imagine how they’re going to sound when they’ve grown into this more.  Then we have “Me and Michael”, which starts with some thunderous drums that sound more like cannon blasts.  What follows is just as dreamy and sweet as other material we’ve heard here.  It’s anthemic, gigantic, and just so damn bombastic.  But as huge as the chorus gets, it’s just so dreamy.  The fact that this is still the MGMT that we fell in love with years ago is a lot to take in still.  But if this is what MGMT is going to be doing from now on, I’m all for it.  “Me and Michael”are just so thunderous, and I love
just how gigantic MGMT sound here.  So far, this is easily my favorite MGMT project in years.

    I have to hand it to MGMT though, not only do they keep it up, but they continue to throw curve balls.  “TSLAMP” is up next, and this one brings in an entirely new element that I didn’t expect to hear. This one almost has a sort of bizarre tropical feel, as MGMT present us with these very dystopian lyrics.  There’s still a very breezy, Psych Pop feel in full effect, but boy does it ever have a dark underbelly.  This track honestly serves as a warning almost.  It’s bizarre, and seemingly right out of the world of “Black Mirror”, and is also incredibly hypnotic.  I feel like so far this album has just hit so many different angles as far as sound goes.  Light, dark humor, trauma, sex, it’s all seemingly on display here.  It’s wild and a LOT to take in, and some of these tracks take a few listens, but it’s worth it.  On the other hand, “James” has a whole lot of the same elements as the rest of the album.  The Psych Pop atmosphere, the quirky vocals, the hazy production, it’s all right here.  But this track is sadly the most lifeless and thrown together of the bunch so far.  There’s obviously still some off stuff going on, but there’s nothing here that’s calling me back for a second listen.  There’s a catchy chorus, there’s no entertaining narrative, we just get a wave of woozy synths.  “James” is just a little too thrown together for me.   But MGMT answer back with the incredibly smooth, almost jazzy, and once again semi-tropical “Days That Got Away”.  I just feel like this track is just so contagious and dreamy, and while it’s a little dialed in I have to admit this track is addictive.  I love the shimmering synths and the moody atmosphere.  And yes, lyrically this is a real throwaway.  But I can’t help but turning this one up, laying back and taking it all in.  It’s also just filled with so much emotion, which honestly is whats lacking so much in this style these days.  “Days That Got Away” is one to vibe to.  On the other hand, “One Thing Left to Try” is just so straightforward and determined.  As far as the classic MGMT sound goes, this is honestly one of the closest you’re going to hear here.  I love just how campy this one is, once again really going back to the Hypnagogic Pop sound we got earlier.  I have to admit, int he long runs MGMT do really sound like outsiders, in the best way.  “One Thing Left To Try” is ridiculously campy, sort of Low-Fi, and doesn’t take itself too seriously at all.  I love this tune, I love this new direction, I love this album.

    With “When You’re Small” MGMT brings us back to a heavily layered Psych Folk sound.  But this one honestly doesn’t come off nearly as solid as some of the earlier songs in this style.  Earlier I felt like MGMT did such a great job of really making this sound their own, quickly too.  But this track is just so fake sounding like MGMT are putting on an act of sorts.  I do, however, enjoy the very spacey and bluesy second half which is completely instrumental.  Honestly, I would have much rather this track been more of that.  This album ends off with “Hand It Over”, which I love just how artsy and upscale this one comes off.  In a lot of ways, this does remind me of something out of the book of fellow Psych Rockers Foxygen.  It’s smooth though, and a wonderfully warm finale.  But it’s also very somber in moments, and ends off this album on an almost melancholy note.  What a beautiful, lush finale it is though, filled with emotional performances and a serene atmosphere.

Rating: 8.4/10

Give A Listen To: "Little Dark Age", "When You Die", "TSLAMP", "Days That Got Away"

Genre: Psychedelic Rock / Hypnagogic Pop / Psychedelic Pop / Low - Fi / Synth Pop / Psychedelic Folk

Overall Thoughts:  MGMT are back with their most puzzling and bizarre album yet.  It's an album that I really didn't understand at first, and one that takes a few listens, quite the opposite of their days on top of the Indie Charts.  It's filled with tongue-in-cheek humor, tropical rhythms, some cynicism, and Psych Pop influences all over the map.  For many, this is going to be a very hit or miss album, with some maybe turning it off after the first track or two.  But if you're into MGMT and want to hear themselves push themselves to the brink of sanity without imploding completely, give this a listen.