Giving a record the title of Oh No can suggest one of several things – a playfully ironic yet violently mean challenge to your listeners almost akin to something like the Clash’s Give ‘Em Enough Rope or Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All, or it reflects a severe misunderstanding of common Americanisms, and of the English language. After all, if one were to add a comma to the title so that it would display “Oh, No” it would imply a dissatisfaction not just with the record, but a sort of existential malaise. And by listening to OK GO’s newest release, Oh No, it’s difficult to determine what the overall mood to the record really is. Is it a snarling, kick-ass challenge to the world or a heavily jaded, bored sigh?
If you’re familiar with OK GO’s biggest American single, “Get Over It,” what you’ll find on their new album is a fundamentally experimental sound in which the quartet of Damian Kulash (vocals, guitar), Tim Norwind (bass), Dan Konorka (drums), and Andy Ross (guitar and keyboards) sound much tighter, and much more focused on creating a unique sound of their own. The heavy, almost Doors like keyboard tinged hooks of “Get Over It,” is replaced by heavily distorted power-pop chord stomping and romping sequences on some songs, and crooning, stylistic ballads on others. The Malmo, Sweden quartet gives it an earnest, hardworking effort – for which they shall be given credit for – but somehow it feels contrived in certain instances and clichéd in others. The anthemic “Crash the Party” although an infectiously catchy song might remind some audiophiles of the Shins “Turn a Square” but with annoying lyrics full of platitudes. A song like “Television, Television” fails because Kulash delivers his lyrics without much irony – or anything else for that matter. A song like “Lately It’s So Quiet,” which is a major aesthetic change plods and churns before ending, leaving a listener with hearing Kulash attempt to sing in a silky falsetto.
However, this isn’t meant to imply that the entire album is a failure – because it isn’t. “A Good Idea at the Time,” with its chunky power chords, hand-claps, and heatedly, ironic lyrics suggesting references to drinking and arguing in St. Petersburg amongst other things is one of the album’s breakout songs. Thrown in for good measure is a horn line late in the song that will automatically remind the ardent audiophile of something you might have heard on The Beatles’
White Album. “A Million Ways” with its neo-new wave, Franz Ferdinand inspired guitar and bass work is also perhaps the funkiest and trippiest song on the album. Lyrically it’s the also quite possibly one of the best songs on the album as well.
Admittedly, OK GO’s Oh No is overall a wildly uneven, messy album – and it is so wildly uneven because the band hasn’t quite found that proper balance of influence and artistic inspiration which often creates a work of art that can simultaneously be rooted in a particular time, a particular place, and yet be timeless and relevant whenever you listen to it. But in its best efforts it seems that OK GO could stumble their way on to something very interesting.
