OK Go — Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

OK Go are a band that have done quite a few interesting things — both musically and non-musically — since forming in 1998, but are still best known for their choreographed treadmill routine in the video for their previous album's "Here It Goes Again."

There's nothing on this record, which takes its title from an 1876 book about the apparent healing powers of blue light, that will change that.

I liked a number of songs from OK Go's 2002 self-titled debut and 2005's Oh No, but there's not much on Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky to excite me. The band seem to be trying to emulate Prince, particularly on "White Knuckles" and the white funk opener, "WTF?" The vocals are Auto-Tuned on "Before The Earth Was Round," but who isn't doing that these days?

"While You Were Asleep" is gentler than most, while "Last Leaf" is essentially just voice and acoustic guitar. "This Too Shall Pass" is heavily percussive, with piano and a choral section, and its video features the Notre Dame University marching band.

"Back From Kathmandu," which is vaguely reminiscent of The Flaming Lips, is my favourite song on the album. I'm assuming that's the influence of producer Dave Fridmann, a longtime close associate of the Lips, at work.

Blue light really doesn't have healing powers, and this album really doesn't have much going for it.

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