Review Summary: Simply put, Metanoia puts the EP in epic.
In the year of 2008 the electro-indie duo making up MGMT reached mainstream success with their first full length album
Oracular Spectacular, which spawned singles like Time To Pretend and the ever so radio-friendly hit Kids. After the mesmerizing effects of the debut album began to drift from people thoughts as the cycle came to an end; but as one cycle ends, another begins as MGMT set out to prepare their sophomore album to be title
Congratulations, set for a 2010 release date. MGMT knew the loyal fans could not wait though. Thus the release of the EP
Metanoia, which in some ways is not so much of an EP considering it only features one track; but what a track it is.
The almost fourteen minute long epic opens with a slow acoustic strum of a guitar with soft chanting about metanoia, which is Greek for "changing one's mind,” which the band does often in this song. The wavy feel of this beginning captures the essence of MGMT’s style, which makes you feel like you should be standing alone on a distant Hawaiian beach, or high as a ***ing kite.
About a minute and a half in electric guitars, take place of the acoustic. This changes the feel of the song in that it starts constantly switching to happy and upbeat, to creepy and echoing. Then at three and a half minutes, it stops instantly into spoken words:
“We were talkin' junk right,
Just before the show
This wild-eyed kid came up to the fence
He took one look at us, and he said:
‘Help me,
Drummer,
Ticket,
Yeah!’”
The last four lines yelled with the thundering guitar ever performed by MGMT with a live feel other than recorded. Following is a high-pitched echoing voice squealing, “We didn't play his favorite song. Now he'll never come to another show,” in what feels like it should belong in The Nightmare Before Christmas movie. This gradually fades back into a tone similar to that of the beginning of the song, where wavy instrumentals take over with little to no vocal back up, until ten minutes in where vocals take the reins again. With a pleasant sentimental tone not shown much on
Oracular Spectacular.
This epic ends with 80’s influence synths, slowly building to a close with no vocals creating an atmospheric experience that puts a big fat period at the end of this sentence; overall equaling out to a song that is beyond the stars that were being reached for with MGMT’s debut album.
