MGMT (The "Optimizer" Deluxe Edition) (2013) - MGMT

MGMT (The "Optimizer" Deluxe Edition) is the expanded version of MGMT’s self-titled third studio album, released in 2013. This edition includes a unique visual component called The Optimizer, which offers an immersive audio-visual experience designed to accompany the album's tracks. The visuals were crafted by artists Alejandro Crawford, Andrew Benson, Emmilio Gomariz, Geoffrey Lillemon, and Chris Timms, enhancing the psychedelic and experimental nature of the music.

Tracklist

The album comprises 10 tracks, blending psychedelic rock with experimental sounds.

1. Alien Days – 5:09

2. Cool Song No. 2 – 4:01

3. Mystery Disease – 4:08

4. Introspection – 4:22

5. Your Life Is a Lie – 2:06

6. A Good Sadness – 4:48

7. Astro-Mancy – 5:11

8. I Love You Too, Death – 5:50

9. Plenty of Girls in the Sea – 3:04

10. An Orphan of Fortune – 5:31

MGMT's self-titled album marked a shift from their earlier, more accessible work to a sound characterized by dense textures and abstract lyrics. The inclusion of The Optimizer visual project underscores this artistic evolution, providing a synchronized visual narrative that complements the album's themes. Critics noted the album's surreal and psychedelic qualities, describing it as a challenging yet rewarding listen that benefits from multiple plays.

1. Alien Days
The album opens with a warped, whimsical journey into a strange realm—"Alien Days" feels like the moment you realize you've stepped into a new dimension. With its childlike intro and woozy synths, it evokes themes of alienation and transformation. It plays like a metaphor for growth, or maybe being abducted by one's own evolving mind. The Optimizer visual pairs it with drifting, morphing patterns—like distant planets or psychedelic petri dishes—accentuating the extraterrestrial feel.

2. Cool Song No. 2
This track descends into a darker, tribal groove. Industrial textures and ritualistic drums support lyrics that hint at indulgence and chemical dependency. It's seductive, murky, and utterly hypnotic. The Optimizer imagery adds jagged, volcanic textures and throbbing light pulses that make it feel like you’re watching the song sweat and breathe.

3. Mystery Disease
Claustrophobic and twitchy, "Mystery Disease" captures anxiety in sound. Gritty guitars and disorienting samples form a fever dream of modern malaise. It's one of MGMT’s more abstract pieces, and the accompanying visual—full of static interference and fragmented geometry—complements the track’s erratic tension.

4. Introspection
This Faine Jade cover transforms into a swirling, acid-washed reflection. The vocals float in reverb, surrounded by shimmering guitars and melancholic keys. Lyrically and musically, it suggests a longing to understand oneself in a chaotic world. The Optimizer blends kaleidoscopic patterns and glowing silhouettes that evoke looking inward, quite literally.

5. Your Life Is a Lie
Short, punchy, and drenched in sarcasm, this track delivers its message with blunt force. The repetition and dry delivery turn it into a psychedelic punk chant. The visuals—a looping series of distorted faces and jarring color flashes—amplify the absurdity. It's the most accessible moment on the record, but no less weird.

6. A Good Sadness
Haunting and spacious, this track feels like a walk through a dream where emotions are only half-formed. The droning synths and ghostly vocals express the beautiful blur of sorrow. The Optimizer visuals are less structured here—liquid-like forms drifting in and out, like feeling without clarity.

7. Astro-Mancy
"Astro-Mancy" sounds like it was transmitted from a dying star. Dense, layered, and exploratory, it wanders with cosmic energy. Lyrically, it deals with existential detachment and decoding the universe. The visualizer here shines—orb-like animations pulse with galactic rhythm, as if the music itself were mapping astrology.

8. I Love You Too, Death
An eerie love letter to mortality, it’s soft-spoken and disarmingly pretty. The song feels like it's playing from the other side of a mirror. The Optimizer visuals use melting structures and slowed movements to conjure that half-awake, surreal calm. There’s warmth here—but also resignation.

9. Plenty of Girls in the Sea
A playful contrast to the tracks before it, this one struts in with winking optimism. It’s deceptively simple and tongue-in-cheek, a bit of MGMT levity. The visuals take on more defined shapes and pastel colors, like a cartoon underwater dating pool—just bizarre enough to work.

10. An Orphan of Fortune
The finale brings everything together. It builds slowly, with ghostly vocals over warbled textures, then blooms into a wide, cinematic crescendo. Lyrically, it's fragmented and poetic, like sifting through memories or realizing your place in the cosmos. The visualizer dissolves in layers, like identity itself evaporating into the infinite.

This album challenges expectations. There are no obvious hits like "Kids" or "Electric Feel," and MGMT seem to revel in that. With The Optimizer, they didn't just make an album—they built an art installation. Kevin Barnes once described Of Montreal’s experimental work as “music for a very specific person.” MGMT is like that. It’s not everyone’s trip, but if it’s yours, it’s transcendent.