mon 02/12/2024

Album: MGMT - Loss of Life | reviews, news & interviews

Album: MGMT - Loss of Life

Album: MGMT - Loss of Life

US art-rock duo see the lighter side of pessimism

MGMT's 'Loss of Life': not supposed to be immediate

The dolefulness of the title Loss of Life is reflected by what’s in the grooves. The lyrics of the Todd Rundgren/Queen-esque fifth track “Bubblegum Dog” include the line “None of this seems like fun but maybe that’s the point, man.” Further in, “Nothing Changes” seems to be about wanting to be rescued from an enervating stasis.

Such melancholy is accompanied by an archness. With its key line “nothing prepares you for loss of life,” it is not possible to take woozy album closer “Loss of Life “ as a po-faced rumination on ceasing to exist. A Day-Glo sense of absurdity is in-keeping with the playful nature of the Sixties psych-pop and Seventies British art-rock MGMT love and brings a Wes Anderson-ish warping of day-to-day sensibilities to the table. This does not mean Loss Of Life is not a serious album. It is. Perhaps too much so.

Musically, Loss of Life is recognisably an MGMT album even though the melodies and arrangements are grander than they have been. “Dancing In Babylon,” featuring a guest vocal from Christine and the Queens, is an altered-state power ballad take on Bruce Springsteen’s The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. The glistening “Nothing To Declare” seems to nod to Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.” Throughout, an undertone hints at the silkier side of the 1969 album by New York psych band Morgen.

Evidently, Loss of Life is not supposed to be immediate. The meaning of the cover image – a 2006 mixed-media artwork by John Baldessari (1931-2020) where acrylic paint and collage were applied to a digital photographic print – is as hard to discern as Messrs Goldwasser and VanWyngarden’s reasons for foregrounding their ostensible world-weariness. Accordingly, this is not the instant classic that 2010’s second MGMT album Congratulations was. Best to let this one bed in and see how it ages.

@MrKieronTyler

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters