Loss Of Life

MGMT

explicit

Released on 23/02/2024 by Mom+Pop
Main artists: MGMT
Genre: Alternative en Indie

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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

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Loss Of Life

MGMT

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Loss Of Life (part 2)