MGMT’s cover for their new album ‘Congratulations’ is a serious early contender for the best cover of the year, and it seems that the psychedelic zanyness portrayed on the cover was exactly the style the band was aiming for in their much-anticipated follow up to “Oracular Spectacular.”

Much of MGMT’s success has been due to their megahit singles such as the Grammy-nominated “Kids” and the spectacular “Electric Feel,” but the band made it clear long before the follow-up was released that they weren’t going for the same level of pop this time around. They weren’t planning on making “Kids pt. 2,” and they said that if listeners go in expecting that, they will only be disappointed.

Instead, “Congratulations’ skips the pop and marches straight into Wonderland, and the result is an album full of insane 70′s spy movie grooves, 12-minute freakout epics and songs called “‘Brian Eno” and “Lady DaDa’s Nightmare.”

On opener “It’s Working,” Andrew VanWyngarden’s deeply reverbed voice floats above an upbeat, energetic guitar and drum groove that at times feels straight from a James Bond chase scene. “Love, it’s only in your mind,” he sings over the obligatory backup choir. “Not your heart.” First-released “Flash Delirium” doesn’t even have a chorus, but the thick synth bass lines, explosive drumming and seemingly random flute solo stay stuck in your head long after the song’s over. 12-minute centerpiece “Siberian Breaks” goes from retro folk to indie rock to outer space electronica and back again without missing a beat.

The style takes more clues from “Oracular”‘s B-list banger “Of Birds, Moons and Monsters” than their more famous songs, and where “Oracular” was stylistically all over the place, “Congratulations” has a much more consistent sound throughout. This could be seen as a positive or negative thing, depending on how you listen to music. These songs won’t be taken nearly as well out of context, but a listen to the whole album revels a great piece of music that will demand repeated listens to fully comprehend.

There’s no doubt that this is a polarizing record, but it’s a great way for the band to say that they’re not interested in playing the pop music game. They focused on the amazing singles on their first album, and the rest of the album lagged in comparison. While there might not be any songs on “Congratulations” that are as good as ‘Electric Feel,” the overall level of quality makes the album much more enjoyable to listen to.

It will be interesting to see if “Congratulations” will have a big impact on the music scene in the same way as their first album did. It doesn’t seem like it, but maybe just their name on it will encourage the less musically adventurous types to give some experimentalism a shot. Who knows, maybe they like freak-out space rock!