MGMT are back with their self-titled third studio album. The successor to 2008's Oracular Spectacular and 2010 s Congratulations, MGMT finds Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser continuing to push themselves to expand the boundaries of modern pop music. Returning to Tarbox Road Studios to work with longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann (Co-producer and mixer of Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations, The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala), Andrew and Ben experimented with various in-studio writing processes, allowing the music to tell them where it wanted to go. The result is a diverse and powerful collection of 10 songs (including a cover of "Introspection" by 1960's psych band Faine Jade) that directly mirrors the duo's encompassing surrealist view of the everyday (see below for full track listing).
The world was given a taste of MGMT in April with the Record Store Day release (on limited edition cassette single) of album opener "Alien Days," hailed as an instant MGMT classic by fans and described by Rolling Stone as a "shimmering, psychedelic soundscape" and Spin as "a sumptuously detailed, exquisitely zonked-out space-rock construction."
In preparation for the highly anticipated release of MGMT, the band have begun assembling a variety of unique visual elements to accompany and illuminate the new music via "the Optimizer." Produced by MGMT live show video instrumentalist Alejandro Crawford, "the Optimizer" provides listeners of the album with a simultaneously aural & optical listening experience featuring video & CGI work by Andrew Benson, Emilio Gomariz, Geoffrey Lillemon, and Chris Timms. "the Optimizer" is part of an enhanced album package available on all commercial formats.
The full track listing for MGMT is as follows:
Alien Days Cool Song No. 2 Mystery Disease Introspection Your Life Is a Lie A Good Sadness Astro-Mancy I Love You Too, Death Plenty Of Girls In the Sea An Orphan Of Fortune