Explore the Exclusive Guide to OK Go’s New Album and the Adjacent Possibilities!

New Album Announcement

Ok Go has taken the reins on the journey leading to their first album in a decade, titled “and adjacent to the possible.” Check this out exclusively on NME below.

The ALT-POP group will drop their fifth studio album on Friday (April 11), following 2014’s “hungry ghosts.”

So far, they have released a vibrant, pop-inspired single titled “The stone only rolls down the slope,” accompanied by one of the group’s ambitious and complex music videos. This time, the video features 64 clips shot on 64 iPhones, showcasing tracks like “This is how it ends,” “Take me with you,” “Going home,” and “Finally a good, good day,” the latter of which features Ben Harper, Shayalah Fearing, and Beginters.

Concept Behind the Album

According to frontman Damien Kulash, the album’s title stems from a concept derived from the theory of complexity, introduced by evolutionary biologist Stewart Kaufman. This theory illustrates how current conditions create potential opportunities for what may happen next.

He elaborated, “Guitar amplifiers were developed to make the jangly rhythm audible in heavy jazz orchestras, but they also opened up the adjacent possible for Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, and Metallica.”

“This provides a useful basis for reflection on emergence: a magical phenomenon where simple components function without grand designs, producing systems more complex than the sum of their parts,” Kulash stated. “Ant colonies develop intricate strategies, and trillions of cells in our bodies self-organize to create us. Even the global economy, chaotic and seemingly aimless, eventually finds balance. In all these systems, individual agents operate without a full understanding of the whole, yet everything possesses a profound intelligence.”

Kulash added, “A theme that runs through this album is the idea that important aspects of existence are not directly accessible. It stems from our individual experience in connective tissue, the space between ‘luminous at the edges’ and ‘better than it.’”

“But the adjacent possible isn’t just a lyrical theme; it also explains the songs themselves, as they emerged from sound rather than meaning. We created them by capturing melodies, harmonies, textures, and rhythms. Two sounds unite, and instead of merely mixing, they evoke a vast, unpredictable adjacency to human feelings.”

“David Bowie succinctly captured this idea: ‘I think that most artists feel much happier discussing the process of what they are doing rather than what the hell it means.’ From my perspective, however, the essence of these songs on an instinctual level cannot be articulated in words,” Kulash clarified.

“It’s meant to be felt. Thus, while the lyrics are more reflections of the songs rather than their engines, here are my thoughts on what these songs convey.”

Check out the full journey from frontman Damien Kulash below.

“Impulse purchase”
“The rest of the album speaks to the audience, but this prologue is aimed at a creation that’s yet to come, no matter what transpires for us. Our main audience is now algorithms, and a certain segment of a Fulist indicates that we all ultimately merge into a continually expanding sea of probabilistic adjustments, so this song is for them: the new and improved versions of ourselves.”

“When we began writing this record, we worked within the only paradigm of songwriting that ever existed: experimenting with rhythm, melody, sound, and meaning until we discovered something that moved us. By the time these songs were completed, that wasn’t true anymore; the songs ‘How these’ could be meaningless and automatically generated.”

“Perhaps this makes our human experiences of blood, sweat, and tears even more valuable, or maybe we’ve all ditched manual crafting in an era dominated by cinema now. In any case, it felt too odd to present a collection of songs to the world as if nothing had shifted.”

'Stone rolls down the slope'
“My worldview, woven into the fabric of my upbringing, is well summarized in Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it leans toward justice.’ Bad things happen, but over time, good ultimately prevails. Nowadays, it’s hard to have faith in that.”

“Now, as I raise my children, I struggle with how to instill hope without error. How do you prepare them for a world that is far darker than you envisioned, while still believing it’s worth fighting for?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouulosvnk4

'Love'
“Do you know that dream where you’re in a familiar place, perhaps your childhood home, but there’s a door that’s never been there before, leading to some impossible magical destination? That’s what children have done to my understanding of love. Suddenly, a grand new ballroom unfolded from the small apartment I’d lived in for so long: a completely new wing of love, vast and overwhelming.”

“It’s astonishing that we exist, small conscious clusters of stardust, existing seemingly by chance in the vast emptiness of the universe. And that we can experience love? It’s incredible.”

'Finally, it’s good, good day'
“From the earliest flares of inspiration for this song, there was a wild, unconscious joy reminiscent of hearing Eric Burdon and the Animals sing ‘Magic Mountain’ or Funkadelic’s ‘Can You Get to That?’ But it was 2020, a time of darkness – the depths of the pandemic and Trump’s initial term.”

“Of course, now those moments have morphed into desperate prayers.”

'Fantasy vs. Fantasy '
“In a peculiar contemporary clash of fantasies, our bassist Tim found himself captivated by a woman he encountered online, an artist living near Joshua Tree, who also expressed some interest from a distance. This fever dream of a connection that never existed shows both their avatars dancing under the desert stars, longing to become real.”

“Or is this what reality has become?”

'This is how it ends'
“The conclusion can be quite harsh – the disorientation of an abrupt void. Where once there was complexity and dimension, suddenly a stark, grotesque flatness emerges.”

“This song may be my favorite on the album or at least the most personal. If music conveys the itch of something deep within that eludes words and thoughts, that resonates with me.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6inwedemsi

'Take me with you'
“Chasing down this song was intriguing, as it blossomed from its disco roots, pulling me towards the playful flair of Nile Rodgers and the swirling thoughts of 80s dreams. Regardless of how I attempted to sing it, it channeled Richard Butler, evoking the essence of a character from Richard Powers’ remarkable novel Excess.”

“A fun fact: there are three complete drum kits playing throughout, plus orchestral elements sprinkled in various sections.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_-6jyb8exs

'Better than it'
“This is a song of gratitude.”

“In that moment when time feels concentrated, barely after sunrise, I try to cram our car with the absurd amount of gear needed for a weekend trip with twins. The kids orbit around us, experiencing the usual chaos of admiration and crisis amidst ‘Sleepsick Tuni’—and in that silence, I notice: it’s as good as this. This is heaven.”

Golden Devils'
“This is a love letter to Craig, a wedding gift.”

“His group’s music was one of the most significant influences of my youth, and their sound seemed to open a whole chapter of music for me. I attended their shows so frequently that we became friends, and after many years, he sent me the first verse of this song on my birthday, inviting me to do something with it.”

“We completed it as a tribute to Craig, celebrating the joy of our interconnectedness and the fleeting glimpses of inspiration that persist at the edges of our vision.”

'Once again with feeling'
“Naturally, we drew inspiration from Jin Knight.”

“What’s truly unfolding amid all this? Doesn’t the world feel far too surreal right now to be considered real?”

“Going home”
“When this song first surfaced, it garnered much attention for its George Harrison-inspired guitar work, and rightfully so: Andy’s playing directly channels ‘Something.’ But the element I always focus on is the vintage drum patterns.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GH39Q-EWBS

'Don't give up now'
“It was written for a close friend of the band battling cancer.”

“At a traffic stop, I noticed this phrase, scrawled as graffiti overhead, and found myself struck by its raw sincerity. One can’t help but think of clichés, but its simplicity and clarity gave it a depth that moved me. I almost shed tears, hoping that it could resonate in the same way for our friend.”