If you are expecting MGMT’s new album, ‘Congratulations,’ to sound anything like its debut album, ‘Oracular Spectacular,’ prepare yourself for disappointment.

The band specifically told its fans that this album was made without a single in mind. This left some fans confused, scratching their heads and hugging their ‘Oracular Spectacular’ vinyls ever so tightly.

It would have been easy for MGMT to make an album full of hits like ‘Kids.’ It also wouldn’t have helped its growth as musicians. Thankfully, they chose growth over popularity.

Either way, its second album was bound to split fans. While half of its fans love its experimental side, the other half love to get drunk and dance to its hits. It would have been tough to equally please the two.

‘Congratulations’ is a challenging album on a first listen. MGMT has stripped those addicting melodies and hooks that charmed the band’s way onto its debut. Gone are the pop hooks found in songs like ‘Kids,’ ‘Time To Pretend’ and ‘Electric Feel.’ Instead, it now utilizes more complex song structures to create an album full of psychedelic rock.

Most people, after half a dozen listens of ‘Congratulations,’ will agree that it is an album that will grow on you. After multiple listens, the songs start to reveal new details to the listener. You notice new melodies and new layers of sound that completely change the way you look at a song. The 12-minute-long ‘Siberian Breaks’ may initially come off as messy. After five or six listens, the song comes together like puzzle pieces, and you begin to realize the band has created something new and exciting.

Some songs have no problem connecting to the listener. On songs like ‘It’s Working’ and ‘Song for Dan Treacy,’ the band is able to apply its quirky psych sounds to create a sound that fans new and old will enjoy.

The album’s closer, also called ‘Congratulations,’ is a pretty piece that works because it is bare and minimal. Such a calm song is a nice way to finish the album, which is far from calm in any way. If anything, it displays another side of MGMT that proves it can also write a more traditional song.

‘Brian Eno’ is the perfect song to use as an example for the whole album. It has parts that trace back to the sound they achieved on the first album, while also including the new 60s/70s stoner-psych sounds that the band has fallen in love with. It’s an instantly gratifying song on an album full of growers.

‘Congratulations’ is a more cohesive album than ‘Oracular Spectacular.’ It’s a coherent album that was meant to be appreciated as a whole body of work rather than just various singles. This is a marvelous feat, especially during a time when listeners only want singles to buy on iTunes.

In a few years’ time when we look back at ‘Congratulations,’ we will see it as a bold step in the right direction for MGMT, rather than the disappointing follow-up with no hit single.

Any band could have reciprocated its success by staying with the same old guns. It takes a lot of guts to expand into an unfamiliar territory that may cause the loss of fans. MGMT made a bold move with ‘Congratulations’ and the band should be commended for it. Not only does this have the potential to be one of the best albums of the year, it’s one of the most exciting ones for fans of true albums.