The duo formed by Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamín Goldwasser has known what success and recognition is since their musical birth, since their debut album Oracular spectacular was a hit in the distant 2007. From then to today, one of the main characteristics of the band is that it was evident that they had many things to say and expose, and we had to wait for this Loss of life to see that need materialize. This has not at all taken away from the often fascinating sonic evolution of the group, becoming references of synth pop with gems like Little dark age, from just over five years ago.
The current proposal of the MGMT is symptomatically based in part on the aforementioned album Little Dark... and also on influences from the 70s. Perhaps the most visible aspect is the recovery, the return, to those psychedelic vocal tones that invite you to travel and also to dream. And with the significant particularity of making them more accessible to today's fan. But along with this, the American duo builds other sound stages, where seductive guitars or ripping and tearing solos stand out, such as Bubblegum Dog. This variety in musical atmospheres has its thematic parallel, where the lyrical spines transition from the desire to live and enjoy to the overwhelming and fearful anxiety. A duality that is perfectly and suggestively reflected in Dancing in Babylon, where the collaboration of Christine and the Queens shines.
The quintet exemplifies with Daniel what experience and maturity bring when it comes to arriving, and they do so paradoxically based on the simplicity of their first works. Martin Courtney and his accomplices recover the pop structures of yesteryear (Water underground, Flowers), they are not averse to folk-rock aromas and put aside recent experimentalisms.
The debut album format of the Galician musician, producer and singer – with an unmistakable high tone – is outstanding. He makes a contemporary reading of the roots without falling into a mere folkie rereading but rather a current and organic update of those feelings. Those pop touches are what make great songs like Speed or Here Still.
Alfons Olmo offers an even more difficult one with Petrichor, a work that thematically and spiritually draws on the idea of origins. Accompanied by a book of collective authorship, VerdCel has the collaboration of Carmen París or the Quartet Brossa, who give life to twelve songs that swing between today's sound and the more traditional ones, from the jota to the copla or the cant de batre .
