?It?s been more than five years since MGMT released ?Time to Pretend? as the first single from their debut album ?Oracular Spectacular.?That song, along with several other hits from the album, had fans enamored with the psychedelic indie rock group before they could even say ?Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser? (the founding and primary members of the band).Then came their follow-up album: ?Congratulations.?Many felt alienated by the group?s sophomore effort. Where were the radio hits? What happened to the catchy choruses?The band had unapologetically taken off in their own musical direction, determined to free themselves from the pop-rock shackles thrust upon them by the unexpected success of their first album.Three years later and MGMT has now bestowed upon us their third studio album, the self-titled ?MGMT.? For those of you hoping for a return to the MGMT of old, don?t expect to find it here.With what is possibly their most ambitiously mind-bending album yet, ?MGMT? is a psychedelic breeding ground for extra-terrestrial sounds and some seriously trance-inducing music.The first single from the album, ?Alien Days,? feels like a Martian children?s song, featuring a playful acoustic chord progression that becomes progressively more electronic while searing synths make the song seem to melt away as a distorted kick-drum beat drives it to a close. If you?re looking for accessibility, ?Your Life is a Lie? is probably the catchiest song on the album. With the type of infectious vocal melody that works itself into your head, the repetition on this two-minute track gives it the feel of an existential alarm clock.For something a little bit trippier, check out ?Cool Song No. 2? or ?A Good Sadness,? which is an absolute behemoth of a song, wrapped up in an electro-sonic whirlwind and dotted with computerized sonar blips.The surrealism of the music is well complimented by VanWyngarden?s bizarre lyrical narratives and images. The song ?Astro-mancy? gives the impression of an out-of-body experience, while ?I Love You Too, Death? personifies mortality in a peaceful, almost serene manner.In the same vein as ?Congratulations,? this album is more or less MGMT telling the listeners who they really are, and that?s basically whoever they want to be.VanWyngarden and Goldwasser aren?t kids anymore, nor are they the rock stars that they pretended to be all those years ago. They?ve packed up those personas and stowed them away somewhere on the spaceship that is taking them far out to the edges of the musical universe. Whether or not you choose to hop on for the ride is up to you, but don?t believe for a second that they?re slowing down for anyone.
