MGMT Offer Congratulations April 13th

As far as debut albums go it's hard to find many as interesting as MGMT's 2008 hit Oracular Spectacular, so firm news about the follow up is pretty cool, and we have that now.  Set to be released April 13th, the Congratulations will feature nine tracks that somehow are related to surfing.  Say what?

"It's definitely going to shock people," Vanwyngarden recently told SPIN.com of the new album's sound. "We dropped any sort of irony that was on the first record, and Congratulations feels true to who we really are."

Congratulations' nine songs are "sequenced to flow with sonic and thematic coherence." And according to Vanwyngarden, the album moves from "Lady Dada's Nightmare," a "very nightmare-ish sounding" instrumental track inspired by the "Poker Face" pop star, to "Congratulations," a song written about fame and the "worldwide economic crisis." Through it all, he said, there's one unifying influence: surfing, a sport he picked up while recording in Malibu.

"There's a surfing thread throughout the record," he explained, citing another new song, called "It's Working." "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!"  [via Spin]

Oh, surfing on ecstasy.  That makes a lot more sense.  And just because this sounds so fancy:

With Congratulations, MGMT unlock a new musical world whirling in its own space/time grid infused with hints of music from the past five decades. Soulful and complex, Congratulations is a surprising and delightful quantum step forward in MGMT's ongoing pop revolution.  [via MGMT]

I'm not sure if that is a direct reference to Back To The Future but it sure feels like one.  The full tracklist is below as well as a video of the band performing the title track in Memphis last summer.

The tracklist for Congratulations: 

1. 'It's Working'
2. 'Song for Dan Treacy'
3. 'Someone's Missing'
4. 'Flash Delirium'
5. 'I Found a Whistle'
6. 'Siberian Breaks'
7. 'Brian Eno'
8. 'Lady DaDa's Nightmare'
9. 'Congratulations'