#21: Congratulations

Congratulations

MGMT

2010

Columbia Records

Peak position on the charts:

#4 - UK Albums Chart

#2 - US Billboard 200

Congratulations is the second studio album produced by psychedelic rock group MGMT. The band, started off by duo Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden while attending Wesleyan University in Connecticut, hit it off big with their first record, Oracular Spectacular, which had three songs chart on the Billboard and got them nominated for a pair of Grammys. Having achieved mainstream status with Oracular Spectacular, MGMT knew they could be a bit more abstract with their second album and it would still sell. So, that's exactly what they did.

Detracting from the norm, the band decided to have no heavy-hitting songs on Congratulations, with the intent of forcing the listener to appreciate the album as a whole as opposed to individual songs on that album. Goldwasser explained: "We'd rather people hear the whole album as an album and see what tracks jump out rather than the ones that get played on the radio – if anything gets played on the radio! There definitely isn't a 'Time to Pretend' or a 'Kids' on the album. We've been talking about ways to make sure people hear the album as an album in order and not just figure out what are the best three tracks, download those and not listen to the rest of it."

What ultimately resulted was a mix of oddly themed songs and complex structures that were musically intriguing, but never caught the public's eye; only one song from the album, "Flash Delirium", ever charted, and only peaked at #81. In that way, they achieved exactly what they were hoping to, rendering Congratulations as an experimental success.

Track-wise, the album is decently diverse. Including comical odes to English musicians Dan Treacy and Brian Eno (creatively titled"Song for Dan Treacy" and "Brian Eno") and a brief instrumental epic entitled "Lady Dada's Nightmare" (which has to be a play on Lady Gaga, especially as big as she was in 2009), Congratulations presents a new angle of modern psychedelia. The album opens with "It's Working", a fast-paced pumper that is about as mainstream as the record gets, and is practically as normal as the group gets. Three slower, more relaxed songs are present in "Someone's Missing", "I Found a Whistle", and the title track "Congratulations" (which describes the band's transition from average college kids to instant stardom and having associates doing everything for them) and are interspersed nicely throughout the record, changing its speed and direction constantly. "Flash Delirium" seems like the one they had the most fun with, as it goes through transition after transition from a simple electo-beat and soft vocals to loud synthesiser backings to ultimately a fast, screaming, noisy, all around awesome last 10 seconds. I probably won't link it here, but go check it out on your own. It's easily their smartest piece of work to date. (EDIT: I actually lied. I'm listening to "Flash Delirium" now. It's magnificent. I have to link to it.)

And then there's "Siberian Breaks". Clocking in at just over 12 minutes, "Siberian Breaks" is the most ambitious track MGMT have produced. Like "Flash Delirium", it goes through several transitions as the song moves along, some sudden and unexpected, but always well orchestrated. VanWyngarden said it was "kind of like eight different songs strung together into one, and the general theme is about surfing in the Arctic Circle by Russia", but I think he was being a bit modest and underestimated. Each portion of the song is long enough to enjoy the feel they were going for, but not too long as if to overstay its welcome. Honestly, it sounds like a demo for the album as a whole; it has elements from almost every other song Congratulations has to offer jammed into a 12 minute masterpiece (it even ends with a minute-and-a-half instrumental that sounds like the inspiration for "Lady Dada's Nightmare" a couple tracks later).

Hey, that's as close to a track-by-track breakdown that I've come to writing.

Several critics regarded Congratulations as a self-indulging, "we're famous now so we can do whatever we feel like", uninspired sophomore slump, but does every artist really have to write music that would be radio-worthy? I, for one, respect the kids for creating an album they enjoyed making (hey, they recorded in Malibu) and seemed to be quite proud of. And frankly, it's good!

They supposedly have a self-titled album in the works for later this year. I'm interested in seeing what new definition of psych-rock they bring this time around.

Below is a full track listing (since it's only nine songs anyways) and a link to "Siberian Breaks". Listening to that one song should give you a feel for the album as a whole. (EDIT: a link to "Flash Delirium" is now there too... I couldn't resist. Also, the video's a bit strange... you can close the window if you'd like and just listen to song.)

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Track Listing

1. It's Working (4.07)
2. Song for Dan Treacy (4.09)
3. Someone's Missing (2.30)
4. Flash Delirium (4.16)
5. I Found a Whistle (3.40)
6. Siberian Breaks (12.10)
7. Brian Eno (4.32)
8. Lady Dada's Nightmare (4.31)
9. Congratulations (3.57)