OK Go

Of the Blue Colour of the Sky

Capitol

With a five-year gap between 2005’s Oh No and Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, Chicago natives OK Go — famous for that YouTube-hyped treadmill dance routine — left fans eagerly awaiting their latest release.

And they disappoint.

Paisley-clad lead singer Damian Kulash is the too-sweet anomaly child of the Shins and the Strokes, if Uncle Garfunkel used to read him disturbing fairy tales by candlelight. Needless to say, the band isn’t afraid to get weird — but weird doesn’t always mean awesome.

First single “WTF?” sees Kulash break trough the track as if he’s wandered into the studio after a day of communing with hippies and snapping his fingers in a coffee shop — surprised by the fancy equipment but deciding just to go with it. His satisfyingly smooth lyrics are layered over a mixture of electro-beats and guitar, chanting, “Are you some kind of dark sorcerer/ Am I under some kind of spell?”

The opening cut, however, is not a harbinger of things to come. Blowing sexy oddities to the wind, the band veers into over-sentimental territory, stating the obvious — “You don’t get much dumber than/ Trying to forget a girl when you love her” — and comparing the fall of the sky to the end of a relationship. Gush. Barf.

It’s a mediocre ride all the way through — and even though gems like “White Knuckles” lend some funky drums and hand-claps, Of the Blue differs leaves behind the catchy tenacity of fame-makers like “Here It Goes Again” and finds itself in a Michael Bolton disco-holiday phase.

Change is inevitable, but we can’t help wishing OK Go could zap back to that glorious age when their indie-pop inspired treadmill jazzercise sessions across the nation.

— Neelaab Nasraty

Senior Staff Writer