Sophomore albums, much like movie sequels, rarely live up to the standards set by the original. MGMT’s first album, 2007’s Oracular Spectacular, was a spectacular (pardon the pun) demonstration of new wave and psychedelic synthpop masterfully weaved together.

Peaking at number 38 in the U.S. Billboard 200 and selling over a million copies worldwide, Oracular Spectacular was also largely pushed forward also by the immensely popular “Kids” and “Time to Pretend”, which was widely played in films and television shows as well. The two tracks also charted 9th and 23rd on the U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks respectively.

Feeling the pressure to come up with something to match the exceptional Oracular Spectacular, MGMT shook the giddy headed feeling of success and retired to a “small cabin in the woods” to write their new album.

It is therefore a disappointment when Last.fm’s 2008 ‘Most Played New Artist’ comes up with an album that falls just short of expectations.

When MGMT said that they wouldn’t release any singles from Congratulations, they meant for the audience to embrace the album as a whole, single piece of art. They were right, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. Every other track sounds ploddingly similar to the previous, except with a few weird sound synthesizer effects added in.

No track in Congratulations ever reaches the crescendo trademark psychedelic chaos that MGMT made a name for with “Kids” and “Time to Pretend”. Instead, MGMT seems to be contented to play it safe and lurk in the same corner they burst out of 3 years ago.

Gone is the unique modern sound of Oracular Spectacular, instead the new album gives off a weird and retro vibe, particularly the first few tracks, “It’s Working” and “Song for Dan Treacy”. For the first few minutes you might actually be convinced that you put the wrong CD in, perhaps an Austin Powers soundtrack instead of Congratulations.

Still there are flashes of MGMT’s ingenuity in tracks like “Flash Delirium”, which mixes and builds up instruments and musical styles you wouldn’t expect until the sudden abrupt stop at the end.

The only instrumental (and most disturbing) track in the album, “Lady DaDa’s Nightmare”, a mix of piano,keyboards and screams. Never mind the strange placement of the track near the end of the CD, it is a mystery how or why “Lady DaDa’s Nightmare” even made it into the album.

As you slog through Congratulations, you’ll be hard pressed to decide if MGMT was trying to be weird just for the sake of being weird, or being so creative that they just pushed new wave rock ahead by a century.

The UrbanWire gives Congratulations 2/5 stars.

Release Date: April 13 2010

Artiste: MGMT

Album Title: Congratulations

Record Label: Columbia Records

Track List:

1. “It’s Working”

2.”Song for Dan Treacy”

3.”Someone’s Missing”

4.”Flash Delirium”

5.”I Found a Whistle”

6.”Siberian Breaks”

7.”Brian Eno”

8.”Lady Dada’s Nightmare”

9.”Congratulations”