It's been nearly two decades since MGMT made a lasting mark on the alt-pop landscape with "Time to Pretend" and "Kids"—songs that are still used as short-hand to define an era, most recently in the movie Saltburn. And 2023’s Just Like Heaven festival exploded in joy when the band performed their album Oracular Spectacular. But the problem with creating such memorable songs so early in your career is it doesn’t just define the time, it comes to define you; MGMT has struggled to escape the mid-aughts electroclash hangover, at least in larger public view. In reality, though, the band fronted by co-founders Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser has released several albums of entertaining music with a particular psychedelic bent. Their fifth, Loss of Life, seems to be a keen student of Pink Floyd and Revolver. "Bubblegum Dog" combines elements of both, along with Jeff Lynne-esque chamber pomp, as VanWyngarden appears to lament being seen as a pop-radio star: "The shame of vitriol/ Aimed at the bubblegum dog/ It's finally catching up with me/ And I hate this bubblegum world/ But hate is a very strong word." The closing title track is sweet and spacey, with a nostalgic planetarium-laser show vibe, while opener "Loss of Life Pt. 2" presents the album as a curio—as an old-school BBC programme announcer voice marvels at the wonders of the universe ("Why a cow has horns … Why fishes have scales"). The vocals of twinkly "Phradie's Song" sound transmitted from outer space. Set to a slo-mo rhythm, "Nothing Changes" boasts a vibrant horn section. Perhaps the most Syd Barrett-leaning track, "I Wish I Was Joking" is a dreamy ballad that suggests having seen a lot through the lens of fame—and felt a few regrets: "Here's the thing about drugs/ They sink your mind and steal your friends ... You get in the car/ but don't go, no." There are moments of folk both twee ("Nothing to Declare") and comparatively downbeat ("People in the Streets"), but also of Flaming Lips-akin joyousness on "Mother Nature," an enveloping cut of grandiose neo-psychedelia that tells the story of "one hero attempting to get the other hero to come on the journey," the band has said. (Note that frequent MGMT and Lips producer Dave Fridmann is on hand again here, along with Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly.) "Unwrap that tourniquet 'round the sun/ Turn those subtle reds into neon/ You'll see the difference when it's done/ But I undеrstand your hesitation," the lyrics go. And for something completely different, MGMT is joined by Christine and the Queens—coming on like Jennifer Warnes—for "Dancing in Babylon," a slightly plastic, slightly sappy, but glorious duet ballad that sounds beamed in straight from Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 circa 1982. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Five fallow years. We had to wait until 2016 for MGMT to hit the studio, under the sun of the US West Coast. Little Dark Age marks the glorious return of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, heroes of the soundtrack to the 2000s. After an eponymous album which was less impressive than Oracular Spectacular (2007) and Congratulations (2010), this fourth work takes off on a synth-pop tangent. They needed to evolve. All alone, the Brooklyn team started to feel their isolation. On production, we find Dave Fridmann, ex-Mercury Rev, and Chairlift guitarist, Patrick Wimberly, who manages a double triumph. Channelling their genius and opening it out to collaborations: Connan Mockasin, who can be found in the album's title clip, and the main synth freak, Ariel Pink. In a more sombre vein which binds form to content, MGMT draws out nuances in the form of homages to the Cure, Gothic and even pop flavours. If the acid sheen of their youthful works had the character of a bad trip (You die, And words won’t do anything, It’s permanently night), the psychedelic effervescence dries up to give way to a baroque pop sound, the quilted synths of Hand it Over showing that the priority here is levity. The heritage of Robert Smith has replaced the hippy bandanas, without quite filling Andrew's head with post-punk fatalism. On the contrary. Struck by occasional inspirations (TSLAMP, She Works Out Too Much), MGMT are playing on the halcyon days of the Eighties, when new wave unfurled across Europe (the ambiguous Me & Michael). This recipe brings forth Little Dark Age and When You Die, marked by the dark synths and vivid melodies that Ariel writes along with the lyrics. An album like a rough-hewn gem. Frustrating, delightful, but with the allure of a thing incomplete. © CS/Qobuz

When MGMT were asked by their record label for a list of their dream producers, with low expectations they sarcastically replied: Prince, Nigel Godrich, Barack Obama, and "not Sheryl Crow." Columbia returned with Dave Fridmann, the producer extraordinaire best known for his work with Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. In typical Fridmann fashion, Oracular Spectacular is a glamorous mega-production through and through. Drums are massively distorted and shimmering keyboards are articulately layered as he takes the reins, leading the duo through his daisy chain of onboard compressors, delay units, and whatever other mysterious studio gizmos and gadgets he uses to get his trademark sound. Expectedly, the 14-karat polish enhances MGMT's blend of psychedelic and indie-electro to a shiny sonic gleam, resulting in some of the catchiest pop songs to come from N.Y.C. since the turn of the millennium. The tunes sound classic and new all at once, paying homage to Bowie, the Kinks, and the Stones, while updating traditional progressions with flashes of Royal Trux, Ween, and LCD Soundsystem. It's a wonderful mess of musical ideas, ranging from the dancy disco thump and Bee Gees falsetto of "Electric Feel" to the gritty acoustic-based "Pieces of What," to the grimy synth groove on the anthemic "Time to Pretend." With tongues planted firmly in cheeks, sardonic wit is as abundant as Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser spoof the stereotypical rock & roll lifestyle with lines like "Lets make some music, make some money, find some models for wives/I'll go to Paris take some heroin and fuck with the stars." Despite the ever-present irony, the songs never feel insincere and the record is inherently strong throughout, making it a solid start to their career.© Jason Lymangrover /TiVo

In July of 2009, a year after MGMT broke out with Oracular Spectacular and became a household name for hipsters, Cantora Records re-released the duo's 2005 EP, Time to Pretend. Remastered by Greg Calibi, the disc includes the original versions of the singles "Kids" and "Time to Pretend," along with four tracks that didn't make the full-length. It's interesting to hear the hits before Dave Fridmann got his mitts on them and turned them from homemade laptop electro jams into explosive pop, and the other songs, "Boogie Down," "Destrokk," "Love Always Remains," and "Indie Rokkers" are pretty good, even if they aren't as huge as the cuts on Oracular Spectacular.© Jason Lymangrover /TiVo