Months ago, when MGMT announced they were working on the follow-up to their highly successful album Oracular Spectacular, they told fans to expect more experimentation on their forthcoming sophomore effort. We have since learned that the album has been given the title of Congratulations (Is it meant to be as self-congratulatory as it seems?), and new details have been revealed through an exclusive interview with Spin.
For starters, the album was mostly inspired by surfing, but it also lifts inspiration from Lady Gaga and the world economic crisis. These sorts of themes don’t exactly seem like they could go hand-in-hand with more experimentation.
But wait–Andrew VanWyngarden, one half of the duo, has previously told New York magazine that the track “Brian Eno” is “kind of a vampire-punk-rock song about finding Brian Eno in like a cathedral in Transylvania.” He also recently told Spin that “Siberian Breaks” is “like eight different songs strung together into one, and the general theme is about surfing in the Arctic Circle by Russia.” Those ideas are a bit more likely to coincide with their promises of experimentation, even if they do seem a little ironic.
However, VanWyngarden assures, “We dropped any sort of irony that was on the first record, and Congratulations feels true to who we really are.”
Perhaps they really will surprise us on this next album. Look for its release via Columbia Records on April 13.
Tracklist for Congratulations:
01 It’s Working
02 Song for Dan Treacy
03 Someone’s Missing
04 Flash Delirium
05 I Found a Whistle
06 Siberian Breaks
07 Brian Eno
08 Lady Dada’s Nightmare
09 Congratulations
