Future Reflections by MGMT Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Psychedelic Journey Through Time

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for MGMT's Future Reflections at Lyrics.org.

Lyrics

And there were future reflections
On the face and the hands
On a green colored island
On a primitive man
It was the future reflected
It felt familiar but new
A street was missing a building
The kids had something to do

There was a feeling the spirit was leaving
Red like a marker
So my tribe, with my knife
Cut the heart from a lonely life

I saw patterns on floorboards
Deep in the dust was a leader
Someone was walking on floorboards
Turned them from oak to cedar
He can assess the situation
I wrapped a string around my finger
Into the forest with the young ones
I don’t expect to be a winner

But as long as you feel it
I’m a believer
My heart is phosphor
Sea rolls and death tolls
Break the surface don’t break my bones

Off of the trail and off of your hands and
Onto a new plan
Is the cost to stay lost
Forever in an empty skin
Pale and thin

If it’s good, or if it’s fortune, I can’t tell
But pieces come together for some reason just as well
Their guns couldn’t see us
There’s a sea outside my door
And one day I’ll appreciate
The rush of blood and the washed out beat of the shore

And remember what it felt like
To be alone
Sitting in the sunlight
All alone

MGMT’s ‘Future Reflections’, a standout track from their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Oracular Spectacular’, is a song that weaves a complex tapestry of time, self-reflection, and human experience. Through its haunting lyrics and multi-layered sonic landscape, the track offers listeners an enigmatic portal into a world where the boundaries of past, present, and future blur into a singular, bewildering vision.

Delving deep into the themes of existentialism and the human condition, ‘Future Reflections’ is less a mere song and more an odyssey that escorts the audience through an ethereal realm. With enigmatic and poetic lyrics, the band invites us on a journey to examine the human spirit, tribal consciousness, and the transience of existence.

Temporal Collisions and Primal Echoes: Interpreting MGMT’s Dreamscape

MGMT masterfully constructs a narrative that is at once ancient and futuristic. They speak of ‘future reflections on the face and the hands’ as a metaphor for the imprints experience leaves upon us. In these reflections, there is an intimation of evolution, from the ‘green colored island’ and ‘primitive man’ to a world where children engage with what’s missing—a suggestive nudge at the potentialities that arise from absence.

This song grips onto the duality of familiarity and the novel, a dance across a temporal spectrum where human history converges with the possibilities of what’s yet to come. Through imagining a street without a building, the band hints at the unceasing flow of time and the ever-changing landscape of our lives, where nothing remains static and every empty space is an invitation to create.

Dissecting the Tribe: The Hidden Meaning Behind ‘Future Reflections’

At its core, ‘Future Reflections’ seems to explore the concept of societal belonging and isolation—’my tribe with my knife.’ These symbols point to a primitive instinct to be part of a collective and the tools we wield to carve out our sense of identity. The act of cutting the heart from a lonely life is a powerful image, evoking the price paid for companionship and the visceral pangs of solitude.

MGMT could be questioning the worthiness of such a sacrifice or presenting it as an inevitable part of human experience. Furthermore, the ‘patterns on floorboards’ and ‘leader in the dust’ speak to the legacy left behind by those who tread before us and what it means to follow in their stead, a theme that resonates deeply with anyone who has grappled with their place in history’s grand design.

An Ode to Nature and Escape: The Spiritual Quest in ‘Future Reflections’

MGMT infuses this track with an undercurrent of reverence for the natural world. Phrases like ‘Into the forest with the young ones’ and ‘Turned them from oak to cedar’ are rich with metaphorical imagery, symbolizing transformation, growth, and the therapeutic journey back to the earth’s unadorned roots. Nature is simultaneously a character and a setting in this song, framing a contemplative perspective on life’s course.

The band’s lyrical foray into the wilderness reflects a desire to peel away society’s constructs and rediscover an intrinsic connection with a simpler, more organic state of being. The forest becomes not just a physical but also a psychological space of introspection and change, one where the speaker does not aim to triumph but to simply ‘be’ and find authenticity amid the hues of the natural world.

Dive Into the Phosphorescent Heart: The Unforgettable Lines that Bind

‘My heart is phosphor’ is amongst the song’s most striking lines, the phosphorescent heart suggesting a beating light within the darkness, a beacon of hope or the enduring essence of one’s spirit. These words, coupled with the stark imagery of ‘sea rolls and death tolls’, conjure an undulating seascape of life’s highs and lows, and the resilience required to face them.

MGMT channels a powerful sense of movement through these lyrics—’Off of the trail and off of your hands and / Onto a new plan’—encouraging a breakaway from the well-trodden path towards an uncharted territory. This notion resonates as both a declaration of independence and a surrender to the currents of fate, challenging listeners to reassess their journeys and the imprints they leave behind.

The Nostalgic Tinge & Acknowledging the Rush of Blood

‘And one day I’ll appreciate / The rush of blood and the washed out beat of the shore’ speaks to a future realization of life’s ephemerality and the intensity of momentary existence. It’s a nostalgic reflection on the physical sensations of being, conjuring up the image of pulsating life against the steady rhythm of an ocean—a meditation on the cyclical nature of existence.

The longing for a time when one could ‘remember what it felt like / To be alone / Sitting in the sunlight / All alone’ unearth the universal yearning for simplicity and the poignant solitude that taints our collective memory. MGMT manages to evoke an emotional landscape that is at once vulnerable and courageous, hinting at the bittersweet beauty found in solitary reflection.