It’s not like, as MGMT, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser ever paid much attention to hiding their more avant-garde instincts. At first and seemingly by happy coincidence they intersected with a leftward swing in public taste, leading to an unlikely mainstream stardom via their 2007 debut Oracular Spectacular.
It’s suit pleasing success enbled the duo to indulge themselves on the following Congratulations and MGMT, but you sense patience was wearing a little thin by the time Little Dark Age arrived in 2018. Boostered as these things can unexpectedly be thanks to TikTok, it enabled a surprise renaissance, but neither party it seemed was too dissapointed when the pair signed to the Mom + Pop label.
Loss of Life sees them unburdened of the pressure of pleasing anyone but themselves, a right to experiment which is taken full advantage of. In flashes – the wonderful Christine and The Queens featuring Dancing In Babylon, Oasis (!) soundalike Mother Nature, the folky Nothing to Declare – the exploration is joyful. Too much of the rest though chokes in layers of self indulgence, art-for-arts sake blankness which proves that sometimes total freedom is not always a good thing.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 