MGMT
Congratulations
Columbia
by David Chiu
Speaking of eclectic, the latest album by the Brooklyn group certainly runs all over the place, but in a good way. The music on Congratulations goes in different directions, but yet still remains satisfyingly cohesive too. The best representation of that would be “Siberian Breaks,” the longest song on the album at about 12 minutes, where it begins as a ballad, then becomes a Phil Spector/Wall of a Sound moment, then morphs into a ’70s bland soft rock tune before veering into somewhat New Age territory. Electronic textures grace some of the songs such as the sexy, Gary Numan-meets-Prince-meets-Beach Boys track “Flash Delirium,” and the haunting “Someone’s Missing”; the rest of the album includes the twee-like “It’s Working”; a grandiose ballad called “I Found a Whistle”; and the whimsical “Brian Eno,” a tribute to the legendary producer/musician. MGMT’s Congratulations is quirky in one sense and exquisite in the other.
NewBeats 