At least MGMT’s album art has got the look.

The band’s new release, Congratulations, features an amazing cover that seems to illustrate the bizarre world of Felix the Cat, Technicolor curiosity and surfing on feline-devouring waves. Yes, this cover’s “look” is wacky, youthful and psychedelic.

However, a “look” can only take musicians so far. MGMT appears to be old school psychedelic pop stars, but in reality, the duo sounds as if it lost its way on Congratulations. The LP showcases two young men drained of the musical ideas they honed a few years earlier.

There’s no denying that MGMT’s popularity is built entirely around the three singles from its first album, Oracular Spectacular. Is “Kids” the song of a generation? Let’s hope that the answer is no, because if it is, then the song of a generation comes from an overrated band with seemingly nothing left to offer.

With Oracular Spectacular, the band, led by Wesleyan University-educated friends Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, was well on its way to redefining pop. Since then, MGMT has shown up on a variety of trendy recordings, from Kid Cudi’s signature “The Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare)” to the Flaming Lips’ “Worm Mountain.”

The mainstream music industry is concerned with catchy singles, which is one of the reasons why Oracular Spectacular became so successful. But aside from its three hits, most of the other songs on the band’s debut weren’t radio-friendly. And judging by the band’s latest single, “Flash Delirium,” its sophomore record won’t yield many chart-toppers.

“Flash Delirium” is an odd blend of 1950s doo-wop, flute solos and even a little bit of punk rock, all held together by MGMT’s random hippie theatrics. Though the song itself is only mildly catchy, it is aided by its completely bizarre music video, directed by Swedish film artist Andreas Nilsson.

The music is tired not in feel, but in composition. It’s as if the band can’t fit anything together, so members use uninteresting, random and disjointed chord progressions. Sorry, MGMT, but a song also needs a little bit of purpose.

Strangely enough, the 12-minute epic “Siberian Breaks” has more form and purpose than any track on the album. Sure, it’s minute after minute of trippy, folk-rock fantasies ending in a long wash of sequenced synthesizer noise, but the song displays enough musical effort to make it feel like the only track on the album the band actually wants to release. The four pieces preceding “Siberian Breaks” are lackluster attempts at psychedelic pop that often sound like the soundtrack for a Halloween carnival.

“Song for Dan Treacy” and “Brian Eno” are the most carnival-like, the latter rearing its ugly head after “Siberian Breaks.” The style is annoying to say the least: The track is ruined by thin electric organs, often out-of-tune singing and cheesy melodies that leave listeners with nothing substantial to remember.

However, no song is completely irredeemable. Even though most of “Song for Dan Treacy” may sound as if it’s coming out of a poorly made battery-powered children’s toy, it does feature an honestly ear-pleasing crescendo at the end.

“Lady Dada’s Nightmare” is an interesting, if completely out-of-place, instrumental that sounds like a lo-fi throwaway segue track from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and the title track is a relaxing finish to the album, helping listeners forget the childhood nightmares they’ve just relived.

Really, something nice can be said about any of the tracks on the album, but little can be said that may make a listener want to play Congratulations more than once. The songs just aren’t that enjoyable. For example, the too-short “Someone’s Missing” starts slow before exploding into a funky Jackson 5-infused coda, but the overall song falls flat.  

Diehard fans may find reasons to enjoy Congratulations because the band’s earlier songs mean so much to them. Aside from the loyal consumers, people looking for music that can match MGMT’s prior successes should look elsewhere.

Maybe Congratulations is just one big joke, and MGMT are the Merry Pranksters Goldwasser and VanWyngarden seem to espouse. Maybe the group has some pop-redefining single waiting in the wings to blow away audiences and redeem Congratulations, an album that sounds like nothing more than the popular band’s death wish.

But an acknowledgment for an accomplishment is in order: Congratulations to MGMT, the band that has made the most disappointing album of the year — so far.

diversions@umdbk.com

RATING: 1.5 stars out of 5