OK GO does exactly what OK GO wants to do. The group’s quirky and novelty viral music videos have landed them in what could be considered a gray area of success. Not many people choose to sit down and actively listen to the band. Most people more often decide to look up the always-entertaining treadmill music video to “Here It Goes Again” instead, focusing on the antics rather than the music. Understandably, OK GO’s sound is not for everyone. The band’s unique, perhaps eccentric, style fails to spread very far past the few videos they have posted on YouTube. The band’s quirks have gotten them far and songs featured here and there in movie soundtracks have helped get them a bit farther, but no one could ever say that OK GO has ever sold out to get to their current status. In their newest album, “Hungry Ghosts,” OK GO sticks to what they like, know and do well — making entertaining music that is not easy to peg down.
Technically considered alternative rock, OK GO dabbles in several different genres of music in “Hungry Ghost.” The tracks “I’m Not Through” and “I Won’t Let You Down” boast disco funk undertones, while “Upside Down & Inside Out” and “Bright as Your Eyes” deliver a more techno and electronica sound. Neither of these genres are new territory to OK GO, and yet nothing on “Hungry Ghosts” sounds like recycled material in the slightest. This band has managed to continually produce music that grows and changes, becoming more and more sophisticated, while staying true to the attitude and style the group is known for. “If I Had A Mountain” exemplifies how far the band has come since their first viral hit. A slower R&B rhythm with synth beats and lead singer Damian Kulash’s falsettos make this a standout track. Not only in the difference in sound, but in the emotional depth of the music and lyrics as well, components not always present in the fun and catchy OK GO hits of the past.
“Hungry Ghosts” is a musically diverse album full of the eccentric and up-beat music one would expect from OK GO, as well as more sophisticated and serious tracks that may catch listeners by surprise.
