MGMT are promising to be one of the musical discoveries of 2008, having signed to Columbia in 2006, their debut album ‘Oracular Spectacular’ has seen the light of day. ‘Time To Pretend’ is the first single to be released from that album. The single itself a slice of uplifting everything. It’s really hard to categorise, they do defy definition for the most part.
The opening synth lead is quite psychedelic, immediately recognisable. It’s amazing how everything gradually builds up and fills into a huge song, the electronic elements give this song a real uplifting feel throughout. The claps and ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’s’ build into a massive climax where the whole thing just drops out. As far as a good single goes, it certainly is that. Despite being edgy, it retains enough charm and integrity to make it instant classic; likely to stick in your head for days.
B-side ‘Metanoia’ opens with an acoustic guitar but quickly the MGMT dynamic establishes itself and within 20 seconds there’s electric guitar, piano, bass, backing vocals and much more. Despite this all it is a relatively slow start compared to the single itself. After a minute and a half the song evolves into something massive with Queen-style vocal sections. It quickly threatens to turn into a massive rock song, bells and choirs find their way in to the already packed-out song. The evolution within this song is sensational, mind blowing even. It’s almost operatic, almost something from a musical, listening to ‘Metanoia’ is like going on a musical journey, where nowhere is out of bounds.
MGMT showcase their craft brilliantly within these two songs, ‘Time To Pretend’ is a cracking effort for a first single. ‘Metanoia’ is in contrast a deeper affair, demonstrating everything MGMT are about and what their capable of, it’s epic. Get this single, and then get the album, listening to these two tracks will intrigue you just as much as they will delight you, I guarantee you’ll want more.
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MGMT - Time To Pretend (single)
