I Like it Rough: Ok Go's new album is a subtle and sexy success

When I first saw OK Go on tour for their second studio album, Oh No, I thought they couldn’t get any sexier. Beyond the stiflingly crowded club, Damian Kulash’s melodious, sensual vocals, classic suit and commanding stage presence gave me even more reason to sweat.

With the release of their third studio album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, OK Go remains sexy, but adds a rougher rock edge to their typically poppy music. The album’s first track “WTF?” opens with electronic feedback mixed with Kulash’s trademark breathy falsetto. Halfway through the song, a guitar solo rips through, accompanied only by xylophone-esque percussion, and leaves the listener wondering whose album they’re listening to. Yes it is OK Go – they haven’t completely transformed themselves – but the album’s synth-rock style sets this album apart from the bubble-gum witticisms of their self-titled debut.

Yet a sadder tone comes with the harder edge to their music. Kulash has said that the album has the "danciest, most anthemic, most heartbroken, and honest songs.” This is very evident in tracks like “Needing/Getting,” whose dreamy, melancholic breakdown of mellow guitar mixed with children’s voices, radio static and ocean waves overshadows the melodious chiming vocals and screeching guitar. Kulash’s peppy voice often hides the tragic nature of the lyrics he sings, but his earnestness helps the true sentiment come through with bluntly honest lines like, “And I, yeah, I still need you, but what good's that gonna do? / Needing is one thing and getting, getting’s another” and “It don't get much dumber / Than trying to forget a girl when you love her.”

The album’s theme of longing continues with the ever-so-sexy “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe.” If I didn’t find the song so hypnotizing, I’d be correcting the boys’ grammar. Fortunately Kulash’s heady vocals and strumming guitar distract me enough that I forgive their adverb errors.

Though the album has its serious moments, this is OK Go we’re talking about and they wouldn’t be the same if they didn’t pick up the pace every once in a while. “This Too Shall Pass” has [the] harmonies and buoyant beats that made OK Go famous. Similarly, “White Knuckles” delivers both the heavier electronic feel of the new album and the poppy danceability of Oh No.

OK Go, known for the creative and complex “Here It Goes Again” (a.k.a. “The Treadmill Video”) music video, once again does not disappoint in that department. The “WTF?” video’s trippy overlapping green screen effect and the single shots of “This Too Shall Pass” are as impressive as ever.

Though Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is less cheerful than previous albums, its subtler, more adult vibes lend well to the talents of this maturing band.