It’s been four years since MGMT‘s last studio album, but in the meantime, the duo of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser will release some vintage music next month that very few people have ever heard. 11-11-11, due, naturally, on Nov. 11 on streaming platforms, consists of music MGMT created especially for the 2011 Maurizio Cattelan retrospective All at New York’s Guggenheim Museum.
VanWyngarden and Goldwasser performed the hour-long work at a private opening for All on Nov. 10, 2011, and then again the following night for a general public audience. The pair said they approached this original music based on their response to Cattelan’s art, 130 pieces of which were suspended from the Guggenheim’s famous rotunda.
The two performances featured early usage of then-new LED lighting strips, which were lined throughout the museum’s inner spiral. MGMT was the first group to perform amid that part of the Guggenheim.
11-11-11 will also be available on black and colored vinyl; fans can pre-order it now for an expected spring 2023 arrival. Those pre-orders come with an instant digital download of the album.
MGMT’s most recent album is 2018’s Little Dark Age, the title track from which became a TikTok sensation during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic. Users made millions of videos that wove the song into anime, superhero movies, video game clips, and post-George Floyd social justice-themed content. Others used “Little Dark Age” in content where they transformed themselves into figures from classical paintings, expressed solidarity with those who identify as trans and to soundtrack footage of Russian missile bombardment of Kyiv.
