Psychedelic pop duo MGMT are gearing up for the release of their new self-titled studio album, due in September, and following on from giving fans a first taste of their Congratulations follow-up in the form of Record Store Day exclusive (and cassette single) ‘Alien Days’, the duo now have a second serving for fans.
MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser have issued the second single lifted from their highly anticipated LP, the quirky pop of ‘Your Life Is A Lie’, which contrasts fuzzy upbeat pop hooks with rather downtrodden lyrics to intriguing effect; accompanying the new single is an equally bizarre new music video.
Singing skeletons, grinning foetuses, song lyrics smeared in mustard on bare-bellied middle-aged men – the clip for ‘Your Life Is A Lie’ packs a lot of eye-grabbing visuals in the course of two minutes in a giddy shot-for-shot structure, including a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Henry ‘The Fonz’ Winkler consoling a young girl.
MGMT paired with director Tom Kuntz for their new video, who previously worked with the psychedelic twosome on the video for the title track of 2010 sophomore release Congratulations. The American film-maker is also the director behind the memorably left-field clips for The Avalanches’ ‘Frontier Psychiatrist‘, LCD Soundsytem’s one-shot ‘All My Friends’ clip, and Electric Six’s novelty hit ‘Gay Bar.’
MGMT have described their new studio album as “less distraught, nervous and paranoid” compared to Congratulations, in an interview the New York pair had with NME earlier in the year. “We’re feeling a little bit more at ease and ready to take whatever comes our way,” said Andrew VanWyngarden. “First and foremost we feel like we’ve made a really good album that reflects who we are right now, which is a little bit less distraught, nervous and paranoid than we were three years ago. For lots of different reasons, 2010 was a wild ride for us.”
The new album, co-produced with regular collaborator Dave Fridmann (who’s worked with The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Tame Impala), features 10 tracks, including ‘Alien Days’, ‘Mystery Disease’, and (proving the band’s hipster credentials) a cover of ‘Introspection’ by obscure 60s tripper Faine Jade.
MGMT is out September through Sony records, view the artwork and tracklisting below.
MGMT Tracklisting:
1 “Alien Days”
2. “Cool Song No. 2”
3. “Mystery Disease”
4. “Introspection” (Faine Jade cover)
5. “Your Life is a Lie”
6. “A Good Sadness”
7. “Astro-Mancy”
8. “I Love You Too, Death”
9. “Plenty Of Girls In the Sea”
10. “An Orphan Of Fortune”
