MGMT/ Congratulations

MGMT
Congratulations
(Columbia Records)

I don't mind bands that drone grimly about death, lick miserably from their packets of "meow meow" and insist that the gates of Dalston lead to the palace of wisdom. I just don't wanna hang out with the bastards. On the other hand, I'd be pretty happy surfing the waves of cubist paradise depicted on the sleeve of MGMT's new record 'Congratulations'.
On first sight this is a summer album with everything you'd expect from one - Beach Boys ancestry, high school heartbreak and blissed out beats. But there's something weird going on: the beaches feel bluescreened, the sun feels 2D. To cut a long metaphor short, there’s something about this album that smells of computer generated happiness.
The simple truth is that behind the sun tan, 'Congratulations' is an existentially cold album. Fans of acid trip paranoia will enjoy 'Someone's Missing', but fans of 'Time To Pretend'... perhaps less so. Elsewhere the record revels in having a personality crisis: the excellently titled 'Lady Dada's Nightmare' revolves around one long, horrific scream, leading less to dancing and more to the pissing of one's pants.
There it is then: MGMT's "summer vibes" are essentially a cruel Matrix. That's not to say that, like Keanu Reeves toying about with reality, there's not fun to be had; tracks like 'It's Working' and 'Flash Delirium' are mischievous pop songs on tropical adventures.
‘Congratulations’ may be a genuine plastic beach, but it's a creative trip nonetheless.