OK Go
Hungry Ghosts
Release Date: Oct 14, 2014
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Rock, Indie Electronic
Record label: Paracadute
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Album Review: Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Given their string of amazingly choreographed and artfully executed music videos, it's sometimes easy to forget that OK Go's real talent is in making albums. Where so many other acts in their position might be content to rest on their laurels with a couple of catchy singles and the occasional viral video, OK Go have become a band in the habit of releasing old-fashioned, good-from-beginning-to-end albums, a feat that sometimes feels as though it's become something of a lost art. On Hungry Ghosts, the fourth album from the versatile pop outfit, OK Go continue to impress.
Based on rating 7.8/10
In the four years since Los Angeles-based alternative band OK Go released an album, much has changed in their musical landscape. The creative masterminds rather publically left their major label, Capitol Records, opting instead to operate under their own imprint, Paracadute. Hungry Ghosts, only the band’s fourth LP in its 16-year career, is actually the first full-length OK Go album released on its own label (2012’s Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky was initially released on Capitol Records and re-released three months later on Paracadute).
Based on rating 3/5
OK Go's songs are a lot like their brilliant viral-hit videos: cute, ingeniously crafted and entertaining, but not something you need to experience more than a few times. Their fourth LP veers from Prince-ly falsetto pop ("I'm Not Through") to sweeping alt-rock ("The One Moment") to pretty, acoustic reverie ("Lullaby"), with Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann adding a bright, inviting polish. But the songs aren't quite memorable enough to hold your attention, or make you wonder if there's anything going on beneath their expert exteriors.
Based on rating 6/10
It’s been almost five years since OK Go put out a full album, but thanks to their skill at making internet-friendly viral music videos, it doesn’t seem nearly that long. 2010’s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky found the band pumping out videos and keeping themselves in the public consciousness for a full two years, culminating in the technically impressive video / 2012 Super Bowl ad “Needing / Getting”. The band was back at it in June of 2014 with a new EP anchored by the optical illusion-oriented video for “Writing’s on the Wall.
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