All Time Top 100

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular, Jim Brackpool, 6 out of 10

It’s the dream start for a new band. Maybe you too have lost count of the number of people asking you “have you heard that MGMT single?” That single being “Time to Pretend” the Brooklyn duo’s debut and a strong contender for Single of the Year thus far. Suffice to say, it’s a remarkable opening gambit; instantly recognisable and arcing ever skywards on lift-off chords and an unforgettable screwy lead line. It leaps out the morning radio like some impish electro hippy, splashes about in your Cornflakes and sends you skipping out the front door in the crisp March sunshine like it’s the height of summer already.

You’d be right to expect even more great things then from the album proper and a cursory glance at the track list reveals ambitious galaxy gazing titles like “4th Dimensional Transition” and “Of Moons, Birds and Monsters”; Clearly MGMT themselves have got their sights set slightly higher than a Hard-Fi support tour.

In some respects ‘Oracular Spectacular’ meets their lofty promise. The overall feel of the album is that of a band making music joyfully uprooted from any temporal reference points. MGMT possess a unique ability to skip with ease between various chapters in rock history and the album weaves its way through shimmering psychedelia, noodly prog rock and shiny, radio friendly synth pop. There’s even a brief foray into 80s AOR by way of ‘Electric Feel’ which struts and shimmies like Hall & Oates covering the Stones.

Sadly, opener and aforementioned single ‘Time to Pretend’ is the highpoint and there really isn’t much else on the album to touch it. Though admirably they’ve opted for a sound that’s as stylistically kaleidoscopic as it is so soncially, the end product is a record too often incoherent and meandering.

The lack of focus extends to the songwriting too. Tunes like “The Handshake” and “Of Moons and Monsters” open up and develop pleasantly enough before striking a groove or repetitive pattern and inexplicably clinging on to it. This would be the point at which point you’re preparing yourself to be blasted into this promised 4th Dimension, but disappointingly they wimp out and the tracks fade. It’s irritating because MGMT clearly aren’t short of ideas, they just seem to lack the discipline and judgement to distil them into coherent and rewarding songs rather than sprawling mood pieces.

“Oracular Spectacular” also suffers from a ludicrously over bearing production job courtesy of Flaming Lips man Dave Fridmann. His signature tricks are everywhere: overdriven cut-up drums, vintage delay effects and gratuitous panning dominate each track and whilst it works for the ‘Lips, here it sounds tinny and jarring. It’s almost like neither him nor the band could decide whether it’s an electronic or rock record and in dithering between the two just settled on this awkward middle ground. Overall, it’s a frustrating listen.

posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 5:23 PM

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