It's been a long while since I last properly sat down and listened to an MGMT album. For those of you who don't personally know me,  the band's 2007 release 'Oracular Spectacular' has a significant place in my heart. It was the album I listened to on the way home every day in my first year of high school and I have fond memories of turning on MTV after a long day seeing their psychedelic music videos offering endless amusement and escapism for me. Their videos, so unique were often a talking point amongst me and my classmates and friends who adored the band's music. Their album 'Congratulations' followed three years on in 2010 and it was what I listened to on my walks home from sixth form, now living half way across the world from where I listened to their first album. I won't lie and pretend I listened to their self-titled 2013 release, I don't know what happened I just never got around to it.

However, the other day I stumbled upon a tweet about their latest release, 'Little Dark Age' which comes a whole four years after their previous release.  The album art, is a lot different in comparison to their art for their self titled and first release. In fact, it reminds me a lot more of the art used for 'congratulations' in the sense that it although toned down in comparison, still has similar psychedelic vibes from it.  Perhaps the art is one that truly reflects the content of their fourth album. The plain and basic yellow cover signifying the calm, vintage yet simple mood that run throughs the album and the clown representing that the band are still here to offer their psychedelic, fun and often crazy tone to the world.

I find the album to be striking in the sense that it truly offers something for every mood. The album kicks off with She Works Out Too Much, which features various overlays of a woman speaking in a voice reminiscent of those 90s work out videos. Honestly, this is a very fun track. It sort of made me want to hit pause at the end of the song and shove on Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and get my fitness on.  The mood changes with  When You Die which has heavy oriental undertones and influences to it and mixes everything up from the previous track.  The throwback nostalgia continues with the track Me and Michael that seems to heavily draw from 80s coming of age film soundtracks. Throughout listening to this song, I could not help but to think about Ferris Bueller's Day Off and how much I had a love for movies such as that and the Breakfast club. This song could have easily have found its way on to either of their sound tracks had it been released over 25ish years ago.

TSLAMP once again shows how versatile MGMT's sound really is. This is a summery track with plenty of tropical vibes to it. Close your eyes whilst listening and it transports you to where it is warm all year long, and palm trees are swaying in the background whilst you sip on your fourth pina colada.  One Thing Left to Try once again transports you back to an 80s high school film with a heavy synth intro, worthy of an 80s disco or 90s skate rink. This is probably one of my favourite songs on the album as it sticks in your head for hours after you listen to it. Things really slow down for Hand it Over which reminds me of old Tame Impala songs. It's a good break from the first half of the album which is very energetic but I'm honestly just buzzing for it to pick up again when I listen to this. But I suppose every album has got to have that one slow song, besides it is the last song on the album so I suppose it makes a nice little end to it all. Overall, their latest release is excellent. I won't go as far as saying it is my favourite MGMT album for reasons mentioned above. But it is certainly not an album to miss. This is an essential in any music fans catalogue.