Flash Delirium

MGMT recorded “Flash Delirium” during the Congratulations sessions, which ran from 2008 to early 2010 across studios in High Falls, Malibu and Brooklyn, with additional work at Tarbox Road in Cassadaga, New York. Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser wrote the song, and MGMT produced it with Sonic Boom, with Billy Bennett engineering and Dave Fridmann mixing. Released by Columbia in 2010 as the first track issued from Congratulations, it announced MGMT’s deliberate move away from the streamlined synth-pop hooks of Oracular Spectacular. Its multi-section psychedelic structure, dense arrangement and surreal video made it the clearest early statement of the album’s anti-commercial turn. The track remains one of MGMT’s defining post-breakthrough recordings and a key marker of their shift toward more eccentric, album-led songwriting. Its reputation is tied to the band’s refusal to repeat the formula of their debut and to Congratulations becoming a cult favourite in their catalogue.