MGMT by MGMT

 5/10 
Rated:Meat is Murder

The band is finally back with an album that will not fulfill great expectations. A little more than three years the band released 'Congratulations' with a slightly different sound from their debut hit album to not be too 'pop' and to be less successful. This Album is the sequel but in its most Pop form. There are plenty bands these days mixing psychedelia, synth-pop and rock , dream pop,etc. that to succeed you have to be surprising and this album is not. It is plain, although there are many new elements from the band like more hard-industrial sounds the  record got lost in selfishness and many bizarre beats like a pop female singer that tries too look freaky to get attention but it's not Gaga or Niki Minaj  just a sad forgettable one.

The album is pretentious, weird and heavy, like for real, it feels like music is a weight in your head and after a while you start getting exhausted, the sound is fine but is too much and not surprising. The voice is lost again like in congratulations and just like the lyrics it sound forced to be "chill" or "cool" . There are some good moments like when it get more cheerful and rhythmic ,like in first album, some powerful notes and vibes are shyly hidden under layers and layers of trying to sound different and supernatural . The songs tend to transform and pass many stages that make the album interesting and not so boring. 'Cool Song No. 2' mysteriously sounds like it came out of Blur's Think Tank but in a psychedelic way  and is the only one that is fun and were the voice sounds potent and leading which was MGMT's original sound.

With more than one listen you might probably find more nice moments but as a lot it doesn't surprise it is like one of the bunch of psycho-pop, the band identification gets weaker and is too much 'dizziness' or 'drowsiness' to handle. It is closer than the second album was to the demos and to 'Oracle Spectacular'  and have a nice 80's touch, but  is over-oddness and attempting to be so atypical is overrated. The album mixes a lot and is sweet but is like the a super-dull version of Madonna's True Blue with out the hits or the spark so it means there are many good different sounds but needed more attention and to concentrate in how to make it astonishing and modern. I bet the band will move on and split or keep trying to loose fans as they will work on side projects just to not be 'mainstream', which is  a shame.

-No Song To Highlight-