OK Go - Of The BlueColour Of The Sky

Thu 18th Mar, 2010 in Music Reviews

When historians come to write the book on music in the Internet age, OK Go should at the very least rate an interesting case study. From their breakthrough treadmill video for Here It Goes Again , to their recent label-divorce-prompting Rube-Goldbergian video for This Too Shall Pass , the Chicagoan four-piece have made a career out of the attention gathered from their video clips.

But great videos don’t necessarily equate to great music, and although new album Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky is their most accomplished effort to date, OK Go continue to struggle to tip the killer-to-filler ratio in their favour.

The killer is absolutely fantastic. Opener WTF? drenches its organs, staccato drumbeats, falsetto vocals and handclaps in the deep fuzz which becomes par for the course, courtesy of album producer Dave Fridman (The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev). And the wailing Casio-keyboard-masquerading-as-a-guitar solo will bring a smile to the face of all but the most hardened. This Too Shall Pass counts as the album’s party and singalong song, although it struggles to break through the fuzz.

Elsewhere, White Knuckles bangs OK Go’s sound over a lo-fi disco beat, Back From Kathmandu feels brings out the acoustic folksy side of the band, and frontman Damian Kulash Jr makes a reasonable stab at a solo ballad with the somewhat trite Last Leaf .

But 13 tracks and 51 minutes proves too much weight for the band to bear. Kulash’s forced falsetto becomes unbearable around the turgid Skyscrapers , and I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe, End Love and Before The Earth Was Round form a mid-section that isn’t so much bad as completely unremarkable.

Much has been made of OK Go’s departure from their previous party-rock band style, but some of the tracks on this album feel like a complete reversal into absolute downers. For their first foray into their new sound, they could have used a little brightening up.