Those who watched MGMT play at the Tabernacle last Sunday night witnessed a band that has finally come into its own. They are at home with their sound. At home with their place in the musical world, each piece of the band finely, precisely settling around singer, guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden and synth czar, Ben Goldwasser. After just releasing their third, self-titled album, MGMT has become a band aware of their limitations, their strengths and their reach. Knowing when to please the crowd with chart toppers like “Electric Feel”. Knowing when to sprinkle in deep tracks like the twelve-minute opus of “Siberian Breaks”. All holding down the attention of the starkly different fan base that ranges from high school dance fiends to psychedelic beatniks.
This international tour seems to have completed the band in more ways than one. Their last two records showed a massive departure from their 2007 breakout, Oracular Spectacular, a split that sort of estranged them from their electro-pop duo reputation. 2011’s Congratulations even had a marked cynicism toward that label and what was beginning to feel like reluctant success. But this year’s release, MGMT, shows a maturity, a unified progression. It is a concrete step forward into a sound that allows an embracing of the old, as well as a deconstruction of the past, and a comfort found only in a future of recognition and self-fulfillment.
And this show, this tour, was a manifestation of that. Tourmates, Kuroma, originally the solo effort of friend and collaborator Hank Sullivant, is a big part of that. About half of it to be exact. Sullivant, along with Will Berman and James Richardson make up the bulk of both Kuroma and MGMT. Richardson opens the night on bass, swapping to guitar for the headliner, and Berman stays on drums for both sets, but Sullivant is the real missing piece. He completes the full chemistry of MGMT, fleshed out since their early Memphis beginnings by filling out the vocal melodies and rounding out the guitar parts to recreate the studio sheen that makes the group such a shining example of psych/dream-pop.
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Kuroma (L to R: Simon O'Connor, Hank Sullivant, James Richardson, Will Berman)
The band has garnered a crowd, a following that loves them for a sound they’ve defined. They’ve been comfortable in the studio since day one, but line-up changes and fast-growing, turbulent hype, seemed to jar their live shows in the past. This performance at the Tabernacle was something new. It was confidence beyond their years. It was a strength found by surrounding themselves with songs and people in which they believed. There was no rejection of the premature hits of “Kids” and “Time to Pretend”. Early deeps cuts like “Weekend Wars”, “Pieces of What” and “Of Birds, Moons and Monsters” were re-explored. “Dan Treacy” and “Flash Delirium” were flawlessly executed, and new songs “Your Life is a Lie” (with special fan appearance) “Cool Song No. 2” and “Alien Days” showed up as the band finished up the set. They worked from material from three absolutely distinct albums, three different eras and mindsets, and managed to sound like a cohesive, moving force. It was inspiring to watch.
A veritable sea of cell phone videographers emerges to capture "Electric Feel".
Ironically, it prohibited most from actually dancing to the song.
It’s almost always too early to speculate as to what will remain a classic. But there’s no doubt that MGMT is a defining band in this generation of music. This is the type of band that grows by creating a community of artists and fans, firmly rooting it in the audio aesthetic of the era, extending its influence as a source, and resurrecting a recurrent sound while dodging the spoiled nature of over-exposed pop. Whatever the group creates next will follow in that path. MGMT seems to be a band of conviction. But this tour and this lineup represent a definite high in the both their and Kuroma’s careers.
Be on the lookout for Kuroma’s next studio album, Kuromarama. And be sure to grab a copy of MGMT at your local record store.
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