MGMT, Congratulations
Hooks splintered into fragments and floating into the ether somewhere
If you can make it past the massive hooks on MGMT's breakthrough single, "Time to Pretend," there's a couple telling lines. Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden admits that the Brooklyn duo is "fated to pretend," but that's okay because "everything must run its course." In other words, dudes know exactly what they're doing, right down to positioning Congratulations as their "experimental LP," a middle finger to anyone expecting another Spectacular slab of prismatic pop songs.
Not that there aren't hooks here. There are plenty, actually; they're just splintered into fragments and floating in the ether somewhere. Take "Siberian Breaks," a 12-minute epic that plays out like a promising series of song sketches. Lurking beyond the fake accents, hazy harmonies and sudden synth stabs is our bruised narrator, shouting into the void, "I hope I die before I get sold." A rare moment of clarity in a record that refuses to sit still or reveal its true calling (is it a concept album? an elaborate prank?), it all but confirms the drug-munching, model-scoring prophecies of "Time to Pretend." At least it does until "Brian Eno" kicks in, plowing us all over with a cheeky paean to the greatest shape-shifting producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist of all time. And then there's the Ecstasy-addled psychedelia of "It's Working," the synthetic horror score of "Lady Dada's Nightmare," and the truly bizarre pop turns of "Flash Delirium." The closest Congratulations comes to unleashing an actual single, "Flash Delirium" is basically the Top 40 foil to "Siberian Breaks," cramming Mod-tastic choruses, disco-derived bass lines, folky flutes, and an abrupt glam/hardcore/rock opera climax into four baffling — and incredibly choreographed — minutes.
Wait, what were we talking about again? Exactly.
