Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

90
The Line of Best Fit

Following the success of artists like Ariel Pink and Tame Impala, the arena of odd and experimental psychedelic pop music is in relatively safe hands, but MGMT still hold a stake in its creation. There’s still something fun and interesting to be found in what the band do and Little Dark Age is proof that they’re nowhere near done with inter dimensional meddling.

85
Under the Radar

Little Dark Age is a welcome return of MGMT's pop instincts, but it rarely shies away from the duo's love of adventurous psychedelia, either. It's perhaps the best indie-rock album of the year so far.

83
Pretty Much Amazing

The true follow up to Congratulations, the record that is doomed to enjoy the benefit of the regret of the music writers who panned Congratulations and also to enjoy the inevitable backlash against the backlash. The record is more than good enough to earn these accolades.

82
Sputnikmusic
This isn’t the best this band has sounded in years, it’s the best they’ve ever sounded.
80
musicOMH

Little Dark Age appears to have been a cathartic album for MGMT to make. With such strength of feeling in the lyrics, it benefits greatly from their largely positive musical approach. The tunes are back, the harmonies are still weirdly endearing, and the album hangs together really well as a whole.

80
RIOT
MGMT have finally come to terms with the notion of being a crowd-pleasing pop act, and have learnt how to fuse this burden with their unmistakable production and writing style. They have finished their stroppy feud with stardom and allowed themselves to enjoy making music again.
80
Evening Standard

This album ... comes as a wonderful surprise as the band return to the sound that brought them to prominence 11 years ago, albeit a slightly darker and mysterious one.

80
Q Magazine
A record that embodies a whole world of vulnerability, confusion and unsteadiness without losing shape.
80
The Young Folks

While it’s missing the brash stubbornness of their previous studio albums (regardless of them being entirely memorable), Little Dark Age sounds MGMT actually trying to mature as artists.

80
Gigwise
It’s a clever, accomplished record that demonstrates real emotional maturity, hammered into smart-pop-song shape, which never really dips in pace or quality.
80
The Observer

Little Dark Age finds MGMT finally rediscovering their mojo.

80
The Needle Drop

NY pop duo MGMT executes a fantastic return to form with the sounds of synth pop on Little Dark Age.

80
Mojo

Album four reverts to their initial template of hyper-melodic, lyrically skewed, synth-pop ... Back on form.

80
The Guardian

Little Dark Age is audibly more rooted in mainstream mid-80s electronic pop than anything MGMT have recorded before.

80
Clash
Following the success of ‘Oracular Spectacular’, it seemed a conscious move on the band’s part to move away from the mainstream pop world with their more experimental work. With ‘Little Dark Age’, the group have perfected the balancing act between the two, and have delivered a project that should please fans on both sides.
80
NME
MGMT’s return to pop is a ... welcome surprise.
80
Paste

Working again with Dave Fridmann and with some key assists from likeminded popster Ariel Pink and MGMT touring member James Robinson, the album feels like it’s alternately melting and lifting, warming and woozy.

80
No Ripcord

MGMT always excel when they don't try too hard, and on Little Dark Age, they admirably leverage irony with lighthearted merriment.

80
American Songwriter
The album earns its outsized ambition through some genuinely excellent songs.
75
Northern Transmissions
While the album is as strange as can be expected, it also has a remarkable consistency that keeps it from being a messy pastiche of disconnected ideas and genres.
70
Slant Magazine

For better or worse, Little Dark Age is an album for its time: moody, backward-looking, a little depressed.

70
XS Noize
It is good to see MGMT return to what they do best, weaving majestic, gigantic musical tunes that are filled with pop goodness.
70
Pitchfork

The good news is that Little Dark Age marks a welcome shift in tactics. Much of the belabored excess of the last two albums is gone. They have traded the shaggy 1960s references and overstuffed arrangements for comparatively streamlined pop, and they have rediscovered their ability to write hooks.

70
FLOOD Magazine

Little Dark Age was met with little anticipation or excitement, but the music gives the impression that the two have transcended their concern with status or influence.

70
Exclaim!

It is, in some ways, an auditory microcosm of the band's career up until this point. Its first half features some of the group's sweetest pop confections since those massive singles, while its second delves into the muggy Barrett-isms of their more recent work.

70
Uncut
Here, on their fourth LP, the duo--teaming up again with Dave Fridmann--appear to have entered some weird, parallel 1983.
70
Rolling Stone

MGMT are back to their roots on Little Dark Age, with concise tunes built from cushy keyboard beats and cute, kiting melodies.

65
Spectrum Culture

tle Dark Age, the duo’s long-gestating fourth album, casts them as graveyard goths whose madcap sense of humor barely keeps the bad vibes at bay. That it works is a testament to just how unpredictable this band has become in its experimental period.

60
Spill Magazine
A middling effort from a band who showed so much promise when they first arrived on the scene a decade ago.
60
God Is in the TV

The record is entertaining with a drastic switch to a toe-tapping twinkly 80’s-inspired synth pop and yet at the same meaningful and relevant, which is something their antecedent fans connected with on debut Oracular Spectacular.

60
AllMusic
They sound like a band treading water, desperately looking for their place in the modern pop landscape and never deciding whether to go pop or stay totally weird. This indecision leaves them stuck in the middle of the road, which isn't a very interesting place to be.
60
Loud and Quiet
The result is an affirmation that MGMT don’t feel as electric as they once did, but even after a few dissident years, their sense of hope is no less diminished.
50
Consequence of Sound

There are some sweet moments on Little Dark Age and some stale ones. More often than not, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser lapse back into a sardonic mode that sounded a whole lot better in 2007 than it does in 2018.

BradTasteMusic
79

It starts really strong but as it got to the 6th track it kinda slowly lost me. I liked the second half but it is way less enjoyable than the first

Tristan
NR

900 followers. I do not have words to properly describe how incredibly thankful I am for every single person who has followed me, liked my reviews, or supported me in any way. It's truly amazing that I'm now nearing 1,000 followers, as that goal would have seemed impossible just 6 months ago. This website has helped me make new friends and expand my musical horizons to levels I would have never expected, and it's improved my life a lot by having such a fun hobby. Again, thank you to everyone, ... read more

Nightwing734
80

Mmm yes, one of my least favorite albums of all time for sure! I fucking hate this shit so much. 100

denkirena
80

haha funny military edit joke

apostrophe
NR

Quintessential Synthpop album

Listened on 16/03/2024

Jacksmileyco
73

Wacky and interestingly written, last couple songs didnt hold my attention too much tho

Purchasing Little Dark Age from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement

Track List

1She Works Out Too Much
4:38
89
2Little Dark Age
4:59
96
3When You Die
4:23
92
4Me and Michael
4:49
88
5TSLAMP
4:29
85
6James
3:52
78
7Days That Got Away
4:44
75
8One Thing Left to Try
4:20
86
9When You're Small
3:30
80
10Hand It Over
4:14
85
Total Length: 44 minutes
Sign in to comment
2w
3w
1mo
1mo
1mo


Added on: May 7, 2017