Sudden onset fame can be a rather daunting obstacle for anybody to overcome, but it seems to be particularly troublesome for those blasted rock and roll icons. Some, like Bono, handle it better than others, using their notoriety for the betterment of humankind. Then there are those like Kurt Cobain, who, well, you know that story. And then there are the ones who relentlessly struggle to maintain relevance in a world that has long since left them behind, desperately clinging to the dim corner of the limelight that still shines in their direction. Sure, the press may talk trash about them and their fans may ridicule them, but it’s a price worth paying just as long as people still know that they’re alive and breathing. Gee, do we know anybody who fits that description?
Anyway, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden are just the latest victims of the mainstream success curse, or at least the 21st century’s version of it. Ironically, for a band whose signature tune is about how they will never be celebrities, MGMT quickly became bona fide superstars during the summer of 2008. In a world that has begun catering to increasingly fragmented niche audiences, the duo accomplished the near impossible, delivering a trio of singles (“Time To Pretend,” “Electric Feel,” and the ubiquitous “Kids”) that captured the ears and hearts of a nation. Ok, cliché story time is over, what’s next? There’s Option A: churn out a new record that predictably delivers more of the same to appease the mass audience. Or, Option 1: ship out a new record that predictably defies expectations and sends the band hurtling into an experimental wasteland of psychedelic noodling and acid trips.
On Congratulations, gone are the thoughtful ruminations on stardom, the playful and sometimes clever lyrics, and catchy-as-hell choruses. Of course, that’s what the press junket would like you to believe. In reality, MGMT have chosen Option A with a little Option 1 thrown in for good measure. They’re still catchy, they’re still playful, and hell there are even a couple songs here that will make it into regular rotation on an FM station near you, so it’s not exactly the game-changer that has been hyped up as for nearly a year. On the other hand, it isn’t every day that you see a group with a number one record under their belt writing tribute songs to Dan Treacy. So maybe there is something kind of cool going on here.
All right, so the music. First thing’s first, let us address the elephant in the room: there is a song on here that’s 12 minutes long. “Siberian Breaks” is a self-conscious effort to create an epic for the ages which stoned fathers will pass on down to their stoned sons just as our stoned fathers passed down Pink Floyd to stoned us. More of a mini-suite of a dozen or more musical ideas all aborted into one track than an actual song, “Siberian Breaks” actually makes a convincing case that MGMT as we knew them are dead. The music pulls in and out like the tide as VanWyngarden sings about faceless voices, empty skies, and starry voids, and the fact that it feels about half its length makes the song some sort of quasi-success, I guess. Still, as the centerpiece of Congratulations, “Siberian Breaks” is entirely unnecessary and a blatantly self-conscious effort to alienate the listener. They would have been better off if they hadn’t tried so hard to sound like they were trying so hard.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s backtrack to the beginning of the album. “It’s Working” opens the record with lyrics that, on the surface, are possibly about drug use but are really, GASP, a metaphor for the music! Next we move on to the infinitely more enjoyable “Song For Dan Treacy,” appropriately styled in the vein of Television Personalities at their best. As such, it is the lightest song on Congratulations and it carries an impact more immediate than what the rest of the album has to offer. Plus its groovy hook (“He made his mind up/Yeah, he’s gonna let it go”) is just fantastic. It is telling that MGMT later attempt to repeat this success with “Brian Eno,” a song that would have been a lot more fun if it weren’t essentially the same thing, and suggests the group might already be suffering from writers block. Meanwhile, the closing track “Congratulations” is a pleasant piece of surf pop disguising some of the most truly cynical lyrics I’ve heard in a long time: “But I’ve got 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/And all I need’s a great big congratulations.” The antithesis to “Time To Pretend,” it could make a fine career capper if the duo ever decides to just take the money and run.
Congratulations suffers mostly from an inexplicable push by the band to be taken as serious songwriters. The goofy fun of Oracular Spectacular still appears in fits, but it takes a visible backseat to more ambitious aspirations that come off as half-baked. When the songs are good they are good, but they never seem to be entirely there. Next time around, MGMT might benefit from hiring a producer that can reign them in and knows how to say “No.” Or perhaps this is another group, like My Morning Jacket, who are destined for the jam band circuit. I’m sure time will be good to Congratulations, and maybe it’s a grower, but right now there’s something about the whole affair that just rubs me the wrong way.
Track List:
1. It’s Working
2. Song For Dan Treacy
3. Someone’s Missing
4. Flash Delirium
5. I Found A Whistle
6. Siberian Breaks
7. Brian Eno
8. Lady Dada’s Nightmare
9. Congratulations
