by Ryan Fine MGMT, the indie pop superstars who burst out of the gate in 2007 with the beloved Oracular Spectacular, may never have as much commercial success as they did with “Kids” or “Time to Pretend” or “Electric Feel.” But even knowing this, they’ve never allowed themselves to take that as an excuse to stagnate or play it safe. With Congratulations they followed up their debut with a strangely experimental but mostly successful ode to the past. Their 2013 self-titled album took a much bigger risk, removing the band’s signature pop hooks and replacing it with much more demanding left-field music. It didn’t land on most ears. Not even a little bit. In fact, with such a clear decline in quality between their second and third albums, no one really expected MGMT to be able to come back with nearly the same addictive strangeness they used to make. Which is to say, no one expected Little Dark Age. The title track and lead single from Little Dark Age is a bit of a misleading teaser. As one of the more serious and “normal” songs on the album, it occupies the niche of being a more straightforward song that’s heavily influenced by The Cure. But further singles like “When You Die” and “Hand It Over” have been much better signals of the absolute madness that defines this record, even in comparison to previous albums by MGMT. It brings back the strong choruses and hooks that define great pop music, but it also adds a near cabaret-level element of dramatic darkness to the mix. Little Dark Age is truly a head-scratching album, but only in the best possible ways.
Playing it for laughs
A circus tent on fire
Little Dark Age Little Dark AgeSomething borrowed
American Songwriter
