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Your support makes all the difference.Suicide, say the harsh of heart, is the coward's way out. Pop suicide, say I, is the path of the pop coward.
There is nothing nobler an artist can do than create art which connects with other human beings. And, conversely, there is nothing so worthless and redundant as creating art which does not.
Keep this in mind every time, over the next 12 months, you hear some hair-shirted masochist praise pop-suicidalists MGMT for their "bravery". Congratulations, you see, is actually a prime example of rabbit-in-the-headlights stage fright, and marks a retreat from the genius of Oracular Spectacular. In interviews, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser have been talking down the pop glory of their debut, and have proudly boasted that its successor would contain no radio-friendly melodies whatsoever. Sad to report, the New Yorkers were being more or less honest.
It kicks off with "It's Working", a piece of psychedelic whimsy that could pass for a lost excerpt from Keith West's Teenage Opera, which is followed by "Song for Dan Treacy", an ode to the Television Personalities singer whose woozy, shambling sound is 50 per cent Belle & Sebastian, 50 per cent the Cardiacs (the TVPs themselves, in other words).
There's a moment of optimism on "Someone's Missing", a piece of falsetto gospel recalling Bobby Conn at his finest. But things turn nightmarish with "Flash Delirium", the flagship song released ahead of the album, which sounds like a nightmare involving a thousand schoolchildren chanting Four Seasons hits on a carousel that's speeding out of control with Lemmy at the helm.
"I Found a Whistle" passes me by completely, and is followed by the album's most indulgent passage. "Siberian Breaks", a full 12 minutes long, begins in a mellow Ono Band mood, then meanders through an eternity of pixie-folk, before, at exactly 8.22, a drum crack turns into something approaching a proper song.
A band who might redefine what pop can mean in the 21st century have instead released a commendable curio, nothing more. So, Ben and Andrew, congratulations indeed. You've made a record only a handful of people are going to enjoy. What do you want? A chocolate watch?
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