Ok Go Defy Expectations – And Their Own Trajectory

Until very recently, the only thing separating Ok Go from the rest of the tide of indie rock pseudo-sensations was the 48 million YouTube clicks the band got for their treadmill-choreography Here It Goes Again video. Thankfully, rather than rush out a follow-up to 2005’s Oh No, the group doubled down with the goal of longevity and redefinition. More than four years later, their work has paid off.

Having formed in 1998 by former Interlochen Arts Camp students Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind, the soon-to-be quartet worked hard to corner the market on geek chic, and succeeded wildly with their video anomaly. After Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, however, there’s little risk that Ok Go will be remembered only for being possibly the final viral music video ever by a major-label musician.

With Flaming Lips producer (and ex-Mercury Rev member) Dave Fridmann, Ok Go have set to make Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky their new reference bar. Originally to be titled The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky after an 1876 book ‘promoting the erroneous theory that blue light cures all ills’, the band chose not to go the Fiona Apple route and shorten the the title. Good thing, too, because Ok Go are at a crucial impasse in their careers; one where they’ll move forward with respect and reverence, or tumble down the heap of faddish one-hitter quitters. Balance is key, and thankfully for them, they’ve found it.

The result of their efforts is a dark record that’s not downtrodden, like a winter night with good friends. It’s a pleasant surprise that every track on the album has its own driving motivation and gravity, with referential flirtations replacing outright imitation (example: the Electric Six soul dabbling on Skyscrapers) and un-self-conscious ’80s celebrations transcending irony with unexpected sheen (White Knuckles). You can draw pretty direct lines between the aforementioned track, as well as WTF, and Prince, but that’s not a bad thing.

It’s not as if Kulash actually tries to sound like the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince – but it’s not hard to see the notes on soul that were taken. Guitarist-keyboardist Andy Ross is equally responsible for the funk confidence, stepping up his role in the band considerably by counterplaying admirably with Dan Konopka’s rhythmic flurries.

There’s a dark sort of disco superpower that sidesteps the snarky t-shirts, knee socks and headbands of their contemporaries here, riding a ’60s pop vibe with ’70s sensuality without diving too deeply into either era and risking the loss of modern progression. End Love is a rapid-pulse digital bath of love reaffirmation on a strobe-kissed dancefloor. Alternately, Last Leaf is a sparse acoustic-and-vocals step into a cold autumn day, building into a seasick Back From Kathmandu.

With Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, OK Go haven’t rewritten any rulebooks or discovered some new, rare gem. What they’ve done is spoken from the heart, followed their own light and made an uncompromising, captivating record that stands to separate them from their indie-rock contemporaries.

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