Music video

MGMT says in a interview for Pitchfork

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 about the song: "We just shot the coolest video in Paris with director So Me

So Me

So Me is a Parisian graphic designer/animator. He is the art director for Ed Banger Records.He has created videos for DJ Mehdi, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Justice, and MGMT. He won the 2005 MTV European award for his video for Justice called "We Are Your Friends." He is also the main designer for the...

 [Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.

D.A.N.C.E.

"D.A.N.C.E." is the second single by Justice, and the first from their album †. It includes an edit and extended versions of "D.A.N.C.E", a rougher mix in the style of their earlier releases, "B.E.A.T", and the track "Phantom" which was previously issued in limited quantities twice on 12" vinyl...

"] for 'It's Working'. In it, Ben and I find this box and these instructions to put together a machine that's constantly changing, and we end up losing control over it. Saying this now, it sounds so metaphorical for our musical career, which is really funny."

The video premiered on June 15 on their website.

The video features Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser finding a box that contains a giant machine in it. They find a booklet with the title "Construction Manual" on it. They look through it and push different buttons on the machine. While Vanwyngarden and Goldwasser push the buttons a woman walks past but they do not take any notice of her and the machine takes photos of her that MGMT show to a photo booth. While the song keeps playing, Vanwyngarden and Goldwasser do various things with the machine such as pour ice cream all over a sombrero on Will Berman's head and locking Matthew Asti in with a giant gopher. Near the end of the video, the machine starts shrinking Vanwyngarden tries looking for Goldwasser and finds him in bed with the woman from before as the song starts fading. He wakes Goldwasser up and try getting out of the machine. Vanwyngarden, Richardson and Asti escape but Vanwyngarden goes back for Goldwasser who gets stuck in the machine along with Vanwyngarden. The video ends with the box closing itself and a man (played by the video's director, So Me

So Me

So Me is a Parisian graphic designer/animator. He is the art director for Ed Banger Records.He has created videos for DJ Mehdi, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Justice, and MGMT. He won the 2005 MTV European award for his video for Justice called "We Are Your Friends." He is also the main designer for the...

), picking up the box.

Personnel

• Andrew VanWyngarden
  Andrew VanWyngarden
  Andrew VanWyngarden is the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band MGMT, praised for "an uncanny knack for producing pop music that sounds as if it were filtered through a kaleidoscope"...
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Ben Goldwasser – Synth and samples
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , omnichord
  Omnichord
  The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument, introduced in 1981 and manufactured by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate, and buttons for major, minor, and diminished chords...
  
  
• James Richardson – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Matt Asti – guitar
• Will Berman – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Britta Phillips – additional vocals
• Gillian Rivers – strings
  String instrument
  A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...