Single Review: MGMT – Alien Days

With the success of their first album, MGMT took their time to come back into the scene. Now, we all know the myth of the second album being awful compared to their first, but MGMT declared they’re skipping this by ‘ignoring everyone that liked their first album’ (Quoted from NME). Anyway, onto the track, which debuted on the 1st of April.

The opening tranquillises you with it’s ambient, synthetic sounds, soon overlapped with the vocals, eventually adding the guitar, revealing the hidden melody within the synth. Soon enough, the song is an orchestra of the very alternative sound it seems they’ve taken on. The chord structure is very reminiscent of an early Suede or Echo & The Bunnymen. The track is very surreal, with the addition of random sounds and synthetics. A soothing keyboard solo shows you how alternative a sound they’re really aiming for. I can’t tell whether this song is meant to make me feel happy, sad, or even confused! The lyrics also add to its surrealism, which seem to be based on the coming of an alien race to come to earth, to either destroy or assist it. Very interesting. Lines like ‘you don’t need wings to hover’ and ‘A couple hours to learn the controls’ referring to a ‘ship’ from the previous line.

The track drones on with these odd sounds and lyrics for five minutes. The song itself is a very creative piece, extremely different to most music around now. I’m in two minds about it though, I imagine it would be much more suited in a coffee house in the Netherlands. The lyrics are also a brain teaser. My personal interpretation of it is to do with religion corresponding to this 2012 alien theory, but possibly because I’ve researched (probably a bit too much) into it. Reason is in the eye of the beholder after all.

I’m going to have to be critical of this track. Even though it’s a smart and well done song, with witty and intelligent lyrics, I feel as though it bored me and repeated itself a lot. But I would recommend a listen of it. I guess one way to describe the track is ‘alien’.