So MGMT makes an album full of catchy, crowd-pleasing electro-pop songs. Said album brings them international fame, sold-out concerts and a boatload of cash. How do they follow it up?
By putting out a spacey, self-proclaimed "no-singles" album devoid of any obvious hooks.
You gotta love the "eff you" spirit of that. Is that a really rock and roll move - just creating what you want to create, without worrying about focus groups or what came before? I have to think so.
And the fans that follow them off the psychedelic cliff are left to parse song lyrics like "It's hardly a sink or swim, when all is well if the ticket sells," as heard in "Congratulations," a slacker-pretty track that really grew on me. Maybe it turns out that the rock star dream doesn't end in choking on one's own vomit, like in "Time to Pretend." Maybe the denouement is fake friends and "someone to make reports/ That tell me how my money's spent/ To book my stays and draw my blinds/ So I can't see what's really there."
Of course, musicians complaining about fame is highly annoying (see: Drake), but I like that MGMT backed up their argument by making the album they wanted to make. The one that might kick them out of the mainstream for good.
PS - this is a soaring remix of "It's Working" by Air.
