No More Pretending

Brooklyn boys MGMT are returning to Australia with a new album and a new sound. Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden talks records, reviews and redemption. Andrew is particularly philosophical about the success of MGMT’s debut record, ‘Oracular Spectacular’.

“I think the first album had some super catchy songs on it,” he says. “Some of the songs were on mainstream radio and we also had the psychedelic side to the band that is more rock influenced, so there’s lots of different stuff for different people.”

 The 2008 release featuring the singles ‘Time To Pretend’, ‘Kids’ and ‘Electric Feel’ catapulted Andrew and bandmate Ben Goldwasser to international stardom. Chart success, award nominations and a world tour followed as the Wesleyan University graduates provided the soundtrack to summer.

“A lot of people don’t realise we’ve had this band since we were freshmen at college and we were 19 years old,” Andrew says. “We’ve always been about being different and changing, sometimes trying to throw people off and confuse people.”

Enter ‘Congratulations’, a nine-track collection that hits you like a psychedelic sledgehammer and has polarised opinion among fans and music industry types the world over.

“I’m proud of the whole thing, but the thing I think I’m most proud of is the fact that we didn’t give a fuck about the label or anything anybody else was saying,” Andrew says of the album’s mixed reviews.

“We really stuck with what we wanted to do, and people can talk shit about it or whatever, but to us it’s what we wanted to do and we’re really proud of it. That honest approach is something that fans appreciate, and it flies in the face of people that hated on the album when we are playing sold out shows.”

MGMT will play next year’s Future Music Festival alongside The Chemical Brothers, Dizzee Rascal and Pendulum in what promises to be an electronic explosion.

“We always have a great time in Australia and it will be nice to go back,” Andrew says. “We’ve had some really fun shows in Australia. I think the ones that stand out are the ones like Perth at the Belvoir Amphitheatre with Tame Impala. There’s kind of like a hippie vibe to it. I think that is what works best with our band in Australia.”

MGMT PLAY THE FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL AT DOOMBEN RACECOURSE ON MARCH 5. ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ IS OUT NOW.