Bleeps. Spacey synths. Mocking lyrics. And...capes. Brooklyn duo MGMT take all these elements and wrap them up in some of the catchiest, cleverest tunes you'll hear all year. They really shouldn't work (after all, they used to be called The Management, which conjures up images of Hale & Pace), but they do. Quite brilliantly.
Time To Pretend is a huge, epic sounding synth-pop masterpiece that begins by wishing for the rock star lifestyle. "Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives, I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin, and fuck with the stars" declares Andrew Vanwyngarden, and 'cliche alert' flashes in your brain. By the end of the song though, it's obvious that this is a deeply cynical look at fame and fortune, especially with the final lines of "We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end...we were fated to pretend".
It's also ridiculously infectious and catchy, but with an uneasy edge to it that stops it becoming too commercial. There's also a big nod to Flaming Lips, which shouldn't be too surprising seeing as they share a producer in Dave Fridmann. They've already been hyped considerably (especially since that cape-wearing appearance on David Letterman's show recently), but this time it is extremely deserved.
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