Back in Everclear's hit-making days, Art Alexakis's lyrics focused on parenthood, divorce, moving west to find normality: Unusually adult preoccupations for alt-rock. Now he's 50, with fresh backing musicians recently accumulated, but he still sounds stuck to the analyst's couch, explaining away failure and co-dependency. That's tolerable when songs stay short and fast; more often, meandering melodies make you wish he'd stop whining. 

Listen to 'Invisible Stars': 

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“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”