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OK Go is going to The Ritz—and you should too.
OK Go is a millennial dream. More of an ongoing art project than a band, the group’s sleazy-meets-kitschy pop songs are reminiscent of Vampire Weekend with a touch of Passion Pit—and usually paired with one of their renowned music videos, leveling up production standards and haunting every music awards show you can think of.
Now, the band is carrying its indie-pop sound to a new era via their first album in 11 years, And the Adjacent Possible, along with a four-stop winter tour dotting the Southeast—including an Oak City show at The Ritz Dec. 6.
The ~decade-long hiatus wasn’t intentional, bassist Tim Nordwind told RM. Aside from the pandemic throwing a wrench in everyone’s plans, the band spent a few years caught up in individual sidequests: children were raised, movies were directed, music for a kids TV show was produced—and in between it all, the record was written bit by bit.
“We didn’t really get back together and in the studio again until towards the end of 2023, really,” remarks Nordwind. “It took most of 2024 to sit down, focus and pull what we had written the last couple of years together, plus write a few new things and get everything mixed.”
And the Adjacent Possible doesn’t pick up exactly where the band left their sound in 2014, but Nordwind says it’s not the time evolving their music, but rather their writing process. “We were not concerned at all with what was trending,” he notes. “And I hear us in the music more than I’ve ever heard it before, you know? Maybe that’s just a thing that comes with experience.”
Over the past decade, the ever-changing landscape of the industry majorly shifted the main sector that OK Go used to build their brand: music videos. The art form, which used to be considered as important as the music itself, is falling off as viewership plummets. But OK Go doesn’t care about the trend report.
“The videos were happy accidents in the first place,” reminisces Nordwind, noting he does feel attention spans are far shorter now. “We have decided we are going to stay our course. We like the results we get by the way we’ve done things.” Stay tuned for more artful whimsy music videos, and go (!) to The Ritz to see the artists live. okgo.net, ritzraleigh.com
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