The successor to 2008’s Oracular Spectacular and 2010’s Congratulations, MGMT finds Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser continuing to push themselves to expand the boundaries of modern pop music.
Returning to Tarbox Road Studios to work with longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann (Co-producer and mixer of Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations, The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala), Andrew and Ben experimented with various in-studio writing processes, allowing the music to tell them where it wanted to go. The result is a diverse and powerful collection of 10 songs (including a cover of "Introspection" by 1960’s psych band Faine Jade) that directly mirrors the duo's encompassing surrealist view of the everyday (see below for full track listing).
The world was given a taste of MGMT in April with the Record Store Day release (on limited edition cassette single) of album opener "Alien Days", hailed as an instant MGMT classic by fans and described by Rolling Stone as a “shimmering, psychedelic soundscape” and Spin as “a sumptuously detailed, exquisitely zonked-out space-rock construction.”
In preparation for the highly anticipated release of MGMT, the band have begun assembling a variety of unique visual elements to accompany and illuminate the new music via "the Optimizer". Produced by MGMT live show video instrumentalist Alejandro Crawford, "the Optimizer" provides listeners of the album with a simultaneously aural & optical listening experience featuring video & CGI work by Andrew Benson, Emilio Gomariz, Geoffrey Lillemon, and Chris Timms. "the Optimizer" is part of an enhanced album package available on all commercial formats.
“Your Life Is A Lie” will be the first music video released and finds MGMT again working with Tom Kuntz, director of the band's 2010 mini-epic “Congratulations” who has also received wide acclaim for his groundbreaking commercial and short film work. Up-and-coming indie director Sam Fleischner will be creating a clip for "Alien Days", and a video for the serpentine "Cool Song No. 2" is also in the works, both to be shot this summer.
MGMT are currently on tour, recently performing to their largest headline audience in the U.S. with over 10,000 people in attendance at Artpark in Lewiston, NY. MGMT are set to play select North American festivals and club dates including headlining the Bunbury Festival in Cincinnati (July 13), First City Festival in Monterey, CA (August 24), FYF Festival in Los Angeles (August 25) and Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle (Sept. 2). In the fall MGMT will commence a tour of Europe with stops in Glasgow, Cologne, Berlin, Paris and more. The band's first show at the Forum in London sold out immediately - see below for full list of tour dates. US Tour Dates for November-December will be announced next month.
Published on 28 June 2013 by Ben Robinson
