When I asked my friend what his opinion of the new Ok Go album was he told me it sounded ”more like the Flaming Lips.” I naturally took this as a good thing, but when I asked if that meant the album was good the response I got was less assuring. He told me he wasn’t sure. So naturally I had to listen for myself. This is actually my first Ok Go album, as I had skipped over their debut due to less than stellar ratings. After listening to OTBCOTS I am not sure they have won me over as a fan.
You see, the “more like Flaming Lips” part was only half right. The entire album feels more like a mix between Death Cab for Cutie and the Flaming Lips, with each song swaying more towards one or the other. Ok Go try a lot of things on the album, and unfortunately only some of them work. The album starts out with “WTF?” and “This Too Shall Pass.” Both tracks owe a lot to the the freak-out style of Flaming Lips latest album Embryonic. These tracks work though, and sound great. However, as the album progresses there is more of a mixed bag. Skyscraper is slow and boring, End Love sounds like a bad new wave song, and Before the Earth was Round plays like a failed attempt to be experimental by synthesizing the otherwise melodic vocals. Then there are songs like I Want You So Bad I Cant Breath and Back From Kathmandu with great melodies and are just plain fun to listen to.
It seems that Ok GO are a band that is still trying to find itself, and they haven’t done it yet with OTBCOTS. They still have plenty of time though. After all it took the Flaming Lips 10+ years before they released The Soft Bulletin. But for now, if I could offer them some advice it would be this: spend less time trying to be cool and just have fun making music. If they can do that they might just make a fan out of me yet.