OK Go - Hungry Ghosts (Japan Edition) (2014)

Review by Gregory Heaney
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. Once again working with sonic visionary Dave Fridmann at his Tarbox Road Studios, the pop quartet delivers an album that's as satisfying texturally as it is melodically. This can really be felt on tracks like "The Great Fire," where the band beautifully merges elegant pop melodies with Fridmann's knack for crunchy and spacious production, creating a sense of sprawling warmth that's hard not to love. A similar feeling runs through the veins of "The Writing's on the Wall," a breezy and wistful pop gem that effortlessly surrounds the listener like a favorite blanket. Songs like these prove that while OK Go certainly have a charismatic presence, their music is able to stand alone without needing a treadmill dance routine or elaborate Rube Goldberg machine to distract the listener. All in all, Hungry Ghosts is another solid album from one of pop's most versatile and charming bands.