An ode to indie pop-rock band MGMT, the soundtrack to this 20-something’s life [column] – LNP | LancasterOnline

I’m not someone who typically operates in favorites.

When people find out I work in the entertainment realm, they look to me for recommendations, and often ask me for my favorite book, movie, theater production, concert, etc.

Truth be told, I love entertainment in all its forms. I have a hard time picking favorites because my heart is filled with an abundance of love for many, many forms of media.

And how do you compare art, anyways? Let’s take this year’s Academy Awards, for instance — how do you pit the quiet brilliance that is “Oppenheimer” with the silliness and artsy ways of “Poor Things?”

But one favorite I’ve held on to, perhaps quietly, for more than 10 years is my adoration for indie pop-rock band MGMT. You may know them from their popular hits, “Kids” and “Electric Feel” from their debut album (“Oracular Spectacular”), or perhaps the later-viral song “Little Dark Age,” if you’re savvy with TikTok.

The first time I heard MGMT, or indie rock in general, was at Central York High School. I took nearly every art class the school had to offer, and one of the art teachers, Mr. (James) Grandi, normally played music from Pandora while kids worked on their latest projects.

Pre-Spotify, I downloaded the song “Kids” to my phone on some free music app that has likely long since shut down. I’d listen to the song on repeat. There’s an instrumental interlude near the end that radio stations often skip that I thought was the coolest thing I’d ever heard.

And, I didn’t know it at the time, but some of the lyrics would end up being a guiding force in my life, even through my 20s, nearly 20 years after the song debuted — “Control yourself. Take only what you need from it.”

When I’m going through hard times, those words often echo through my head. Take only what you need from it.

MGMT’s music is atmospheric, and consistently inconsistent. They’re not afraid to change their style, or take risks. You hardly have to listen to the lyrics, as their music is more about the tone, anyways.

MGMT catapulted me into the world of indie pop-rock, leading me to lifelong loves with bands like Modest Mouse, Vampire Weekend, The Strokes, White Stripes, Twenty One Pilots, so on and so forth.

All of this is to say, my taste in music has been heavily influenced by a couple art classes in high school.

My late mom was in the hospital when MGMT dropped its self-titled album in 2013. I can’t recall why she was in the hospital, though it wasn’t an unusual experience for either of us — me, isolated at my dad’s house, and her, isolated at the hospital. Both of us missing our favorite human.

MGMT’s self-titled album marked the first time I actively anticipated an album release instead of listening to older songs, or whatever was on the radio.

I remember listening to the album on repeat as I stayed at my dad’s house, using the new music as a lifeline to the grief.

Their song “Introspection” never became a single, but could have.

“Introspection / What am I really like inside? / Introspection / Why have all the prophets lied? / There’s a season when I find out where I am / And there’s a reason, and I will someday find the plan.”

But, if I was in a particularly poor mood, bizarre songs like “Alien Days” and “Cool Song No. 2” would suffice, too. That album was the soundtrack to many hard days.

MGMT’s fourth album, 2018’s “Little Dark Age,” is a bundle of joy and sadness. It got me through the days of working a full-time job, a part-time job and going to school full time.

The band released its fifth album, “Loss of Life,” in February. I haven’t yet had the heart to listen to it.

Life is different now than what it used to be. I have a sweet, beautiful partner in life, an imperfect but beloved apartment, two jobs I adore and an abundance of friends who fully love and support me.

Maybe MGMT, too, has grown in the same way. Maybe “Loss of Life” refers to the loss of a former life, loss of who you used to be. Maybe it’s an album that tackles complicated grief.

I won’t know for a little while. I will listen when I’m ready.

I’ll control myself, and take only what I need from it.

Mickayla Miller is an LNP | LancasterOnline staff writer. “Unscripted” is a weekly entertainment column produced by a rotating team of writers.