In the era of the prevailing mainstream, it is gratifying to discover autonomous musicians who want to create something truly experimental such as stop/go, who are able to blend styles by escaping any predetermined direction and projecting themselves boldly into a musical universe studded with a myriad of facets.
From The Fox and the Bird to stop/go
The story of Ok Goodnight begins in 2019 at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Casey Lee Williams (vocals), Martin De Lima (guitars), Augusto Bussio (drums) and Peter De Reyna (bass) combine their respective talents in a highly promising project. Indeed, perpetuating the solid musical tradition of one of the most important American cities in the history of rock, but interpreting their art as a proactive dialogue capable of enriching the great classical repertoire by establishing new languages. After the great critical success of their second art rock album The Fox and the Bird in 2023, comes Stop/Go, released independently on June 12.
The long way to stop/go
It took three years of hard work to complete this new chapter in their discography, whose title plays on opposites. The same ones that drive one of the work’s most evident dynamics of the work that alternates moments of pause (stop) and relaxed atmospheres with others of pure tension and energy (go), sometimes turning the mood with very decisive breaks.
The result is a collage impression that mixes music, feelings, and sampled segments. A subject that is anything but linear, yet somehow manages to embody human complexity, which is not linear, but above all manages to represent the drama of an increasingly difficult communication corrupted by noise.
Aggregating Canterbury jazz rock to Zappa
As for the music, on the other hand, one appreciates the cultured miscellany that reveals the inspirations of the band, which has managed to aggregate some reflections of Canterbury jazz rock in its roughest and most refined perspective, to Zappa reminiscences and some electronic cues of the early 80s, but also to traces of more recent groups and artists such as Mars Volta, Leprous, Dream Theater, and Sigur Rós.
stop/go: “The finding of a common purpose, in any mission”
The lyrics, masterfully written and interpreted by the talented frontwoman Casey Lee Williams, explore the invisible social issues that move in the chaotic traffic of metropolises and our small worlds, between a sense of vulnerability and the impossibility of escaping from one’s nature. A journey that has led the band itself to the conclusion that the human being is not able to change himself and perhaps will never stop feeling feelings that destroy him. But the greatest discovery that the elaboration of this album brings is the finding of a common purpose, in any mission. It is enough to remain connected to genuine bonds and any unpredictable obstacle on our path can be faced.
The moral of this work is perfectly explained…
It will not be a coincidence that the Rothko-style cover artwork is perhaps aimed at communicating with the immediacy of colors, that sense of desert desolation, but also the existential search stretched between the duality of opposites of this world.
I believe that the moral of this work is perfectly explained from the first listening, in which the first detail that strikes you is the compositional refinement that leaves no performer in a merely supporting role compared to the others.
stop/go is “in constant transformation”
Musicality moves in constant transformation, dialoguing from one instrument to another, from electronics to the percussive component. No Sound begins this journey by unraveling between ethereal moments, sudden glimpses and gusts of art rock that we find chaotic and impressive also in other songs such as 22 or Spiral, the latter with the flashes of De Lima‘s guitar in evidence juggling riffs, stratospheric solos and arpeggios. The synth inserts and electronics alternating with epic flashes are perfectly distributed under Casey‘s voice that passes through them almost instinctively, as if all the evolution of the songs had been recorded during an improvised jam session.
The Game
Among the main examples of stop/go is … The Game which is divided into two almost equal parts, starting gently and then rising as if suddenly sucked into a progressive vortex. And again, in jazz-style pieces in full Berklee style, such as The People and Top of the Bottom, the rhythm section of De Reyna and Bossio underpins the more typically rock elements of their previous works.
The atmosphere of the album
There is no shortage of refinements of clarinet and flute parts in the symphonic ballad The Game, as well as the use of the sax in Humpty Dumpty (“Some Body!”) and the most introspective moment of Call Me Away is surprising, an evocative ballad with psychedelic nuances, shorter in duration than the other songs, but perfect in sealing the atmosphere of the album.
Closing words
stop/go is a mature work that demonstrates a strong personality through a tracklist of great value and effectiveness. It is a record that requires some listening to be assimilated but that will certainly not fail to attract the attention of music critics thanks to its elegant conceptual design, which has inspired an artistic vision of rare depth.
Track List
- No Sound
- 22
- Top of the Bottom
- …The Game
- Spiral
- Call Me Away
- The Show
- Humpty Dumpty (“Some Body!”)
- The People
- Where I’ m From
Line Up
- Casey Lee Williams – Lyrics, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, SFX
- Martín de Lima – Keyboards, Guitars, Orchestrations, Backing Vocals, SFX
- Augusto Bussio – Drums, Guitars, Backing Vocals, SFX
- Peter de Reyna – Bass, Backing Vocals, SFX