Juxtapoz.com. March 22, 2010

Full MGMT Album Out x Cover Art by Anthony Ausgang

MGMT have today unveiled the entire album for their new release, Congratulations. The album cover artwork -- courtesy of 'lowbrow' artist Anthony Ausgang – is pretty awesome in and of itself.

The new album is everything we’d expect from the psychedelic-rock duo, but a bit more toned down. “In a weird way, it's like a soul record,” MGMT’s singer/guitarist Andrew Vanwyngarden states.

The musician pair helped design the theme for the album cover by Anthony Ausgang and they weren't kidding about the influence psychedelic drugs and surfing had on the band's second record, which is reflected in the cover art.

“Lyrically, it's about doing drugs,” Vanwyngarden admits in an interview with Spin. “I didn't realize it until now, but it's kind of funny, because the first song on our first album was Time to Pretend, which was about the imagined rock star scenario. So, [the song] It's Working is like, "Yeah, we went out there and we did a lot of drugs and it's not that great." The song is mostly about Ecstasy.

“There's also a surfing thread throughout the record. When you're surfing, there's a specific break you're paddling to. And when the waves are really good you say, 'It's working.'  The song kind of has a surf-y vibe. It's like surfing on ecstasy. Which is what the Time to Pretend video is like. Actually, the video is more like surfing on acid.”