Who is MGMT? It’s a question that even band members—Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser—pose on their social media handles and website domain. Although the duo penned some of the biggest indie hits of the 21st century, released platinum albums and starred in their own music videos with hundreds of millions of views, the personalities behind MGMT have never overpowered their output. VanWyngarden and Goldwasser have remained anonymous. MGMT can still ask the question “Who are we?” and it doesn’t lend itself to the easy answer it would have for one of their contemporaries, like Tame Impala or Vampire Weekend.
Their lack of a frontman persona is likely why, despite the massive popularity of their music, MGMT have never elevated to quite the same headliner status of their contemporaries—at least not in the last 15 years. But it’s also given them the grounds to shapeshift, experiment, and transform. Since 2007’s blockbuster Oracular Spectacular, they’ve gone from pop-rock partiers to sprawling prog-rock, to synth-pop doomsayers. MGMT can never be pinned down. After 2018’s sharp and cold Little Dark Age, MGMT returns with their fifth album, Loss of Life. The duo have always flirted with washed-out psychedelic rock; their vibe-oriented music has probably soundtracked thousands of college kids’ third-ever bong rips in the nearly 20 years after Oracular Spectacular. But Loss of Life is their most mature and reflective take on the genre yet—arriving easy, loose and immersive.
MGMT have always proudly displayed their influences. They’ve covered Pink Floyd deep cuts on Jimmy Fallon, named a song “Brian Eno” and curated a set for LateNightTales full of ‘60s and ‘70s psychedelia. On Loss of Life, the band spirals through their various reference points with abandon. Reflections of the Flaming Lips, David Bowie and Animal Collective all swirl throughout the album’s guitar tones and synth arpeggios. Lead single “Mother Nature” features a bridge that recalls Oasis. In an interview with Rolling Stone, VanWyngarden says “I never would’ve thought that would be coming into an MGMT album, but here we are… For 10 seconds on this album it sounds like Oasis, and the rest of the album there’s no Oasis.” The guitar tones of the Gallaghers don’t appear again, but they glimmer in their moment of spotlight, like all the other bites of pastiche, inspirations and lyrics throughout the album.
This approach makes for an anachronistic and amorphous album. About two-thirds of the way through “People In The Streets,” there’s a refrain that recalls yacht rock or the chillwave beats of 2018’s “Days That Got Away.” “Bubblegum Dog” has a guitar solo with muscle and bravado, not unlike Queen’s Brian May. MGMT’s duet with Christine and the Queens, “Dancing In Babylon,” briefly uses drum-programming reminiscent of Avalon-era Roxy Music. Album intro “Loss of Life (Part 2)” features a kazoo-like synth that rubs elbows with the fame-making melody on “Kids.” They even reference “Gangster of Love,” a blues song by Johnny “Guitar” Watson (and made famous by Steve Miller Band), on “I Wish I Was Joking.” Loss of Life is kaleidoscopic, but not just because it’s a trippy psych-rock album—it’s because it takes all these pieces, four-bar phrases and homages and spins them together succinctly.
MGMT gives the album’s many ideas room to breathe. The songs are unhurried and luxuriate in their layers of production and ambience. “Nothing Changes” starts off as a Ziggy Stardust-type slow-burn until it sinks into a refrain that sounds like slowed-and-reverbed elevator music. The highlight, “Dancing In Babylon,” turns a schmaltzy ‘80s ballad into something uncanny and eerie. MGMT and Patrick Wimberly (Chairlift, Blood Orange, Empress Of) executive-produced Loss of Life, with additional credits from Daniel Lopatin. The results are rich and dense, and the songs often tack on addendums: an extra jam-out, string orchestration or dissolution into synth chaos. But by the end of the album, these extended arrangements drag off too long, like a high that won’t go away. The back half is slower and pared back. The jolt of electronics as “Loss of Life” fades finally rev the energy back. It’s almost too easy to get lost in the shapeless structures of the album’s back-half.
While Loss of Life still gives no compelling answer to the question “Who is MGMT?,” it also doesn’t need to. The album makes it obvious that the duo are most at home behind the boards, uniting their musical memories from Oasis to Roxy Music. Perhaps the answer is something simple: MGMT is an amalgamation of their greatest influences, heavily reverbed for good measure and made by music nerds who are doing it out of love of music-making.
Listen to MGMT’s Daytrotter session from 2011 below.
Andy Steiner is a writer and musician. When he’s not reviewing albums, you can find him collecting ‘80s Rush merchandise. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter.
