ON the evidence here, psychedelic rock group MGMT, founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden, have shunned anthemic synth-pop once and for all.

Drenching echoes and foggy vocals dominate their self-titled third offering, which – by turns is euphoric, reflective and downbeat – and follows the haphazard trail left by its predecessor Congratulations.

If this record was cut up and arranged in order of rhythm, at some point there would be a marked shift in the music, when it stops sounding like the inside of a child’s head after three lemonades at his fifth birthday party, to being the musical equivalent of being drunk at a funeral.

The thing about musicians’ bands is that they demand your full attention. And yet the necessary time spent with this album, in its deliciously surreal world, is absolutely rewarded.