3 - MGMT – “Time To Pretend”

“Time to Pretend” bubbles and flutters for a few seconds before the synths drift in, the welcoming opener to Oracular Spectacular. To hear it met with the broken, lethargic line “I'm feeling rough I'm feeling raw / I'm in the prime of my life” is confusing at first, until you realise it's all just make believe. Part manifesto, part sneer at rockstar chic, “Time to Pretend” is MGMT's vision of stardom, and as the band of the song find themselves drifting through hard drugs, divorce, isolation from the ones you love and eventually death you realise stardom it isn't the cheeriest of career paths.

But the exuberance and bounce of the track has always given listeners the sense that MGMT are smart enough to look out for themselves. Ben Goldwasser has admitted in several interview that it's “a little creepy” to be playing the song in front of sell-out crowds, but they've managed to avoid drug addiction and supermodel wives... for now. As the songs says, “What else can you do?”, it may be a path to self destruction, but the morning commute just doesn't look the same when you've had a taste of the spotlight. In the meantime, we all get to pretend too.