First impressions mean everything. Among people, first impressions can foster feuds many years long just as easily as they can lead to beautiful relationships, and a band’s first impression is just as important.
I first heard MGMT (formerly The Management) on the Internet, kicking around various MP3 blogs, and the first song I heard was “Time to Pretend.” It made an impression, and a favorable one. It’s no coincidence the band’s first album, “Oracular Spectacular,” released Jan. 22, begins with that very same song.
Unfortunately, MGMT didn’t manage to bring the raucous energy heard in “Time to Pretend” into the entire album, sometimes foregoing it for a mellower sound that’s somewhat hit-or-miss. Still, there are some very high points on “Oracular Spectacular,” and a lot of promise.
The New York-based band blends sweet and simple synth parts with skillfully picked guitars and dirtied-up drum tracks for a sound that falls somewhere between the danceable pop songs of Hot Chip, 1960s David Bowie, and the overwhelming volume of a group like TV on the Radio.
Sound odd? It is. Sound impossible? I assure you it is not.
Songs like “Kids” demonstrate that MGMT knows it has range, and the band knows how to use it. The song starts with a slow, cheerful keyboard part that gives way to a melancholy verse and chorus. It’s perfectly normal pop music, right up until a fanfare blasts over the keyboard solo and a wave of noise crashes through the speakers. It’s beautifully brutal, and completely unexpected on first listen.
MGMT knows these moments well, and the band is not shy about using that knowledge to throw surprise after surprise at their listeners, but it’s not always so loud, as heard in the quirky keyboards on the downtempo “Weekend Wars.”
Other standouts on “Oracular Spectacular” include “Electric Feel,” perhaps the funkiest track on the album, and “Pieces of What,” which has vocals reminiscent of Mick Jagger on some of the Rolling Stones’ bluesier recordings and a surprising amount of soul.
All in all, while “Oracular Spectacular” is a bit of a rollercoaster, it’s well worth the ride, and paints a bright future for the MGMT.
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