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MGMTbuilt its nameon blaring synths and angsty, anthemic choruses.
But to Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, thats not what defines their band.
But the duo werent interested in a follow-up breakout moment.
2 as the opening track.
They were generally supportive and let us put out whatever music we wanted to.
Operating without that hanging over us this time was a major difference.
But once we really got into the process, it was very liberating.
AVW:We didnt feel like we had to make an album, either.
But for a while, it was just testing out different ideas.
Having this gut feeling that things arent going to go as well as we hoped they would.
Then it went into this Euro-dance style.
That ended up inspiring us.
AVW:Theres this schmaltzy piano breakdown that Ben added when it was still Euro-house.
But at the same time, its not that at all.
The song is a Frankenstein structure.
BG:I was talking to a friend the other night about the Meat Loaf piano breakdown.
I was like, I dont think Ive ever played piano like that in my life.
I didnt really realize that I had that in me.
Maybe I was possessed or something.
AVW:I was a bit self-conscious to showChristine and the Queensthe song.
And then Im like, Okay, now its time to playouridea.
Its like theres this suspension of disbelief where the dinkiness of the music can accent an incredible human performance.
And then Andrew and Patrick ended up getting COVID.
So I showed up at Dans studio and we opened up Mother Nature.
Were going to do rock stuff on this track.
Miles, the engineer on the record, is this hugeOasisfan.
He helped me get the perfect guitar tone for it.
I was taking it everywhere and would play the Nothing to Declare verse on it.
It always felt like it couldnt actually be a real song.
I also played the 4 Non Blondes guitar on the recording.
That was a spontaneous eBay buy during the pandemic.
I started playing it and I was like,Theres something about the guitar.
Ive seen this before.Its fromthe Whats Up?
Linda is playing the same model.
We just gravitated toward talking about grunge music videos and that classic era of MTV and VH1.
It somehow all seemed to fit.
AVW:I loved theSmashing PumpkinsToday reference at the end of the video.
BG:We did geta shoutoutfrom Smashing Pumpkins.
There was just a ton.
I definitely tried to impersonate Eddie Vedders facial expressions during the opening scene, which was really fun.
Toms actually a huge fan ofStone Temple Pilots.
I think there are at least three Stone Temple Pilots references in it.
He couldnt really talk about what was happening in the moment.
Their producers son
BG:Dave Fridmanns son John did the horn arrangements.
AVW:Probably 8 or something.
BG:So weve watched him become an adult, and hes always been around.
It just felt really right to put John on the record.
We just described what we were thinking, and he composed that 70s loungey midsection.
Then we had this established flow that we were doing.
PlayingElden Ringin the studio
AVW:We should mention … whats the game called?
BG:Elden Ring.
AVW:Yeah,Elden Ringwas a constant presence.
We were living in the fantasy zone a little bit.
BG:John Fridmann also is obsessed with video-game music.
Its basically his favorite genre.
So basically anytime we were taking breaks, somebody was playingElden Ringor watching someone play.
And I think that seeped into the lyrics on a few songs.
Youre going to die.
Which one do you want to focus on?
Or you’re able to just choose to do something else and have a happier existence.
Which is hard to do, but its a goal I would like to work toward.
And I like approaching music like that.
AVW:Its at the root of our friendship and our music, finding absurdity in the human condition.
I dont think its just a passing phase.
I think its going to always be there.
