How does it feel to listen to OK Go’s fourth studio album “Hungry Ghosts”? It’s a vibrant collection from the Chicago-based alt-rock band and showcases an exhilaratingly diverse cornucopia of sounds that slide anywhere from a toddler-soothing “Lullaby” to whooooshy dubstep-mania.

We get a lot of albums coming through the desks of our writers each month. While most of them are worth a spin or two and make it into the daily shuffle, there’s a bunch that are “meh” at best, and the inundation turns into more of a *gasp* job than anything else. You can call us desensitized to fun – or whatever it is our life coach told you to tell us so that we internally reflect more on our self-destructive choices – but it does get pretty inane. Oh woe is us, right?

Other times we receive gifts from the musical cosmos and the loop button on our archaic five-disc changer becomes functional once again. OK Go, thank you, from the bottom of our soulless existence, for making us force the interns to dust off the repeat button. It gives them purpose. Thank you for the gift you’ve bestowed unto world.

Imagine yourself waking up to a mild fall morning on the first day of vacation, suiting up for a grand road trip to destinations unplanned. Breakfast tastes more pleasant than usual, the news somehow devoid of violence or corruption; and that goofy smile that hasn’t shown itself since 3rd grade photo-day claims your beautiful face as its permanent domain once again. Work can fuck off for the next 168 hours because a rowdy excitement is in the air. It’s on.

That’s how it feels to listen to OK Go’s fourth studio album “Hungry Ghosts.” It’s a vibrant collection from the Chicago-based alt-rock band that showcases an exhilaratingly diverse cornucopia of sounds that slide anywhere from a toddler-soothing “Lullaby” to dubstep-mania in “Another Set Of Issues.”

The entire work is pieced together to create a fluid wave of emotions while listening from front to back – like albums used to be in the good ‘ol days. There isn’t any focus on highlighting just one or two radio hits and padding them with obnoxious filler or clock-wasters. Each single in itself could be the next big thing for the band, but as a whole, it’s a remarkable collection.

Opening the album is “Upside Down & Inside Out” that begins with the quickest analogy we’ve ever felt on an album. Within the first two seconds of the auditory journey an uplifting whooooosh foreshadows sentiments to come. It tells you to belt up, big buddy, we’re going lawless.

It’s easy to see why this would be such an exceptional album. The gentlemen in OK Go are creators, they’re visionaries. They’re often found drenching the Internet with viral videos of seemingly impossible melodic tasks and continue to forge ahead past the only musical competitors they have, themselves.

If we were held-up at knifepoint and demanded to make one simple statement about “Hungry Ghosts,” first we’d probably cry, then push through the salty mess with a stuttered proclamation of “ingenuity” and “diversity.” There isn’t a genre unbrushed in “Hungry Ghosts.” It’s so varietal at what it engineers, each song sounds fundamentally different from the other. It flows like a radio station without commercials. It could be twelve separate bands with just as many tracks.

From mechanical crashes in the industrialesque “Obsession” to the epic ballad in “The One Moment,” the gamut of genres is driven hard. It’s honestly one of the most rewarding listening experiences we’ve ever been a part of. And we’ve been a part of a lot. Thousands! We hope that doesn’t make you think differently of us. We all have our pasts …

One downside to the adventure isn’t even a downside at all, unless of course you happen to find yourself in traffic. The way the album is put together is so seamless, if you’re not too heavy in paying it much attention, weird things happen subconsciously, and it could be dangerous.

It goes energetic dance party, to heart throbbing electronic sweat-fest, to epic life-affirming anthems, to soft and sincere romanticized ballads and ends with a lullaby. A fucking alert-draining lullaby! Having “Just go, go to sleep and dream that I’m in your arms tonight” softly hushed over and over again is a sure way for your car to meet the railing. Stay awake please; we enjoy your company.

In short? We dug it. We dug it so hard with titanium shovels and industrial-grade work gloves. We call that kind of regard, Blisterless Fascination.

How about some one-word reviews of each track:

1. Upside Down & Inside Out (whoooosh)
2. The Writing’s On The Wall (vaporous)
3. Another Set Of Issues (dubsteppy)
4. Turn Up The Radio (addictive)
5. Obsession (mechanical)
6. I’m Not Through (8-bit)
7. Bright As Your Eyes (sentimental)
8. I Won’t Let You Down (Chromeo-y)
9. The One Moment (heroic)
10. If I Had A Mountain (purposeful)
11. The Great Fire (top-shelf)
12. Lullaby (naptime)

To contact the writer of this article, Brian Frederick, email: Brian@TheRooster.com