The following is a short review of Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky by Chicago’s own OK GO, due out on the 11th on January over here in the UK.

Now let’s not label this pop rock band a guilty pleasure, because that denotes that despite how bad they are, you’ll still listen. Let’s be honest here, Oh No barely put a foot wrong during it’s 41 minutes of pure joy. It didn’t have any deep songs, it was just about fun and if I’m honest that’s what most music should be about.

Ever since their treadmill escapades catapulted them from vaguely recognisable to ‘oh, that band’ the follow-up had to always look like a tough mountain to climb. Instead of playing it safe with another poppy three quarters of an hour, they’ve decided to do the honourable thing and experiment with the formula that got them to the ball.

It starts off well enough with the grinding bassline of WTF which soon transitions into the skip-a-long, piano infused This Too Shall Pass. It’s definitely a change of pace as they both slowly chug along when compared to the frantic sophomore release, unfortunately the album carries on at this pace and the tracks only get progressively uninteresting. I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe isn’t a terrible track but it could be written by any old Prince inspired American pop band.

If you’ve ever had a close friend who was always a great laugh until he fell in love, you’ll relate to Of The Blue Colour... because that’s exactly what OK Go have gone and done. No more crashing the party or ideas that seemed like a good idea at the time, OK Go have grown up and probably lost most of their appeal in the meantime. **