What's up with MGMT and surfing?

A couple years ago I posted a link to the MGMT video for "Time to Pretend," which featured the lead singer surfing on green screen ala Frankie Avalon (with decent drop-knee style). I think we can all agree that was a pretty great album. Now that the newest release by these debauched Brooklynites has officially leaked, like a surfboard with an unknown gash in the glass, it raises the proverbial eyebrows again to see all kinds of surf imagery in the mix. The album cover has a crazy Sonic-the-Hedgehog-like fox, throwing double shakas under the curl of a menacing wave shaped like his own head. Trippy.

In a recent interview with Spin, MGMT member Andrew Vanwyngarden talked story about the new album: “There’s a surfing thread throughout the record,” he said. “When you’re surfing, there’s a specific break you’re paddling to. And when the waves are really good you say, ‘It’s working.’ The song ["It's Working"] kind of has a surf-y vibe. It’s like surfing on ecstasy!”

Surfing on ecstasy? Seems like a lot of bands are taking to the wild waves with their influences lately. I've asked this before, but is this a coincidence? Are we headed to an era of Gidget-esque surf worship similar to the '60s? Are we already in the middle of it? Does it even matter?

As I write this, the album is playing in the background and it's totally tubular.

Check it for yourself. You can stream the whole new MGMT album, Congratulations, at NPR.org's First Listen.