Loss Of Life - MGMT: Review
Right out of the gate I think this album started a spectacular 3 for 3 on singles. Mother Nature came first and I think it was genuinely one of the best songs I heard in 2023. I love the soaring Beatles-ey harmonies and the sugary pop hook. It manages to be both theatrical and youthful but also deeply heartfelt and I just adore everything about it. I love MGMT and this may be one of their best songs ever.
Bubblegum Dog and Nothing To Declare pop up one after another on the record and I love them both. The former features some haunted house synths and eerie creeping refrains backed by this bombastic array of psychedelic instrumentation. It's the exact brand of strange that the band has always been so great at deploying. Declare is similarly great. As the quietest of the three it features a pretty reserved lead vocal performance with the kind of surreal and naturalistic lyrical imagery that's a perfect accompaniment. It's a jangly piece of psychedelia that won me over right away.
Technically the album had a 4th single Dancing In Babylon but I waited to listen to it until the full album was out. That turned out to be a good decision as the track is a collaboration with Christine And The Queens that sounds like a millennial Total Eclipse Of The Heart that's making sure it doesn't strain too much. It would have his strangely as a single but it fits better within the tracklist of the album. If you're noticing a pattern of the band pulling from retro theatrical pop and rock acts that is basically the thesis of the album. The band that kept popping up over and over again throughout my listens was Foxygen. If you know how I feel about Foxygen, it won't surprise you to know that I enjoy Loss Of Life quite a bit.
People In The Streets is a track that grew on me with every single listen. The whining haze of sounds that backs the mostly instrumental chorus is one of my favorite sonic elements of the record. It reminds me of some of the most saccharine M83 or Radio Dept. songs. That transitions directly into this very clanky percussion that's certainly abrupt but sets up for an even more emotional bridge. Closing track Loss Of Life is also an absolute delight. It feels like a fairy tale but like a genuine fairy tale with all of its terrifying bluntness still intact. The instrumental bridge is one of the most confrontationally loud moments on the entire record and it leads into one of the most climactic moments I think I've ever heard on an MGMT song.
If the album has a weak point it's the second half run between the singles and the closing track. I don't mind Nothing Changes, the track that likely fits the album's reputation for conjuring dramatic, wandering vintage indie rock. It stretches a full 6 minutes with a constant evolution throughout that results in quite a lot going on. I appreciate the consistent demeanor it's able to convey and some of the most dramatic parts do click with me, but I wouldn't exactly call it a highlight. I feel similarly about I Wish I Was Joking, the most tongue-in-cheek song on the record. It has strange references throughout the lyrics that make it seem like kind of a joke but they play it pretty straight sonically. It's another surprisingly busy track with one sonic element on top of another on top of another throughout. I like how surreal the song is even if it doesn't nail every single detail.
Alongside Babylon, I think my least favorite song on the record is Pharadie's Song. It's the most stripped-down track here. Even though there's a slightly crackly ambience throughout the track the presentation is largely just acoustic guitar. Across the final minute, it is granted a bustling array of wind chimes that definitely help, but don't necessarily turn the song into a highlight.
Loss Of Life may not be a destined classic like Oracular Spectacular or even a surprising and dynamic evolution like Little Dark Age. But it doesn't have to be THAT good to be enjoyable. The record has a consistent sonic presence that I quite appreciate with a willingness to follow almost any instrumental whim. What results is a chaotically imprecise series of sound palettes which the band delivers plenty of magnetically catchy refrains over. This one isn't worth overthinking, Loss Of Life is a solid and quite dynamic record. 7.5/10
For more indie, check out my review of Future Islands' People Who Aren't There Anymore
