MGMT – Music Review

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Photo Credit: soundcloud.com, userlogos.com

MGMT, short for “The Management,” has released their third studio album under their record label Columbia Records. The band arose after lead singer Andrew Vanwyngarden met keyboard player Benjamin Goldwasser at Wesleyan University during their freshman year. They weren’t serious with their music during college, but when they made a few pop hits like “Kids,” “Time to Pretend,” and “Electric Feel,” they immediately rose to fame.

MGMT’s third self-titled album, known also with a few short clips as “The Optimizer,” was formerly set to be released on September 17th, 2013, but after days of telling the fans about a big surprise, they decided to leak the album on September 9th.

With the complexity, MGMT easily made one of their most experimental albums yet, as they became even stranger with their psychedelic rock style. The album has ten tracks with all of them entirely distinct among any work they have done before.

The album begins with a metaphoric synthesizer-using track called “Alien Days.” The song, which focuses on descriptive lyrics throughout, does not have a chorus, but it represents what the band has come to signify. A voice of a child starts the track, and Andrew begins to sing with her after a few moments, but when they begin to repeat the lyrics, “I love those alien days,” he immediately takes over. The track was an interesting way to start off the album, as it leaves the listener thinking of what will come next.

The second track, “Cool Song. No 2,” is a track that stands out from the rest. With the gentle drumming and mellow singing, the track first brings off a tropical vibe, and then the track feels isolated. Andrew’s lyricism appears metaphoric once more, and when the occasional piano chords arrive, the vocals match the sounds.

The third track to the album titled “Mystery Disease,” is possibly one of the best tracks on the album. Andrew sings quietly once more, and the lyrics seem to be metaphoric for what society has turned into. Along with the chorus are some catchy and distorted keyboard chords. This track is the closest thing to their older tracks like “Kids” or “Time to Pretend.”

The fourth track is a cover from Faine Jade’s 1968 track titled “Introspection.” For the first time in the album, the track begins with an obvious simple guitar. The song has a more recognizable peaceful feel. It also has a clarinet solo.

Currently the most popular track on the album titled “Your Life is a Lie,” is the next track. The song is easily the simplest, with a continuous cowbell. Andrew sings, “Your Life is a Lie” throughout the song. In the middle of the song is a distorted synthesizer.

Track six is called “A Good Sadness.” The song begins quietly with the instruments, and they used samples of different sorts. One of the samples was almost like a helicopter flying. Andrew sings louder in this track, hitting different notes. The track has a more depressing feel. It ends with his voice fading away, becoming another song that stands out well.

The seventh track is called Astro-Mancy. The song begins mainly with drumming. Andrew sings once more quietly with a mellow tone. His lyricism seems to be metaphoric again. They slightly bring a synthesizer sound back in this track.

Track eight is titled, “I Love You Too, Death.” To begin the track they sample a buzz, somebody hardly laughing, somebody whistling, and something banging on what seems to be a tin can. The song is more psychedelic sounding, and Andrew begins to sing over the samples. It’s MGMT’s style of a love song, with different and unusual lyrics.

The ninth track is titled “Plenty of Girls in the Sea.” This track begins with a banging on the drums, and immediately after, Andrew begins to sing louder than normal. Similar to the track, “Your Life is a Lie,” he repeats, “Plenty of Girls in the Sea” many times. The song is one of the more catchier tracks on the album.

The final track is titled “An Orphan of Fortune.” The song begins quietly, but about a minute in, they start drumming. Another original synthesizer appears at the end of the track, and the final chords are very well done.

Overall, MGMT made a very interesting and entertaining album, to some the album was possibly indie. They brought new sounds that nobody would be able to expect, and the album, extremely experimental, sounds nothing like anything else out. To some, the album will be hated because it does not bring back the style from their first album, but they openly state that they are making the music for themselves. I think this album deserves a good score, but some of the tracks were boring like “Your Life is a Lie.” The tracks like “Mystery Disease,” “Alien Days,” “I Love You Too, Death,” and “Plenty of Girls in the Sea” were done well. The album appears to have more meaning than their other albums, though the lyrics are metaphoric so it’s hard to tell. MGMT deserves better reviews. The album was definitely better than average, and it has possibly been one of the best albums of 2013.