MGMT: Congratulations

Congratulations is an album of parts: part letdown and part refreshing; part success and part failure. It’s sort of like life out of college, and MGMT has certainly graduated from 2007′s pregame friendly Oracular Spectacular. The first minute of nearly every track sounds promising, but whether it will continue on solidly or delineate into a trying 12-minute melodrama is quite the tossup. “I Found a Whistle” works, as does “Congratulations” and “Songs for Dan Treacy.” Let’s just say “Lady Dada’s Nightmare” was appropriately titled, and “Brian Eno” failed to live up to its namesake; “Siberian Breaks” is worth the listen if you can make it to the five minute mark. Go in with no expectations and you will enjoy this record. Their work with Spacemen 3′s Sonic Boom easily makes itself known, and the band’s willingness to depart from the formula that brought them to fruition deserves to be commended, insultingly ugly cover art and all.