Exploring wild new songwriting territory
Boston progressive metallers Ok Goodnight recently released their second full-length album, The Fox and the Bird which reaches a new level of musical storytelling. Since the band formed at Berklee College of Music, they have used their diverse musical backgrounds and shared talent to make dynamic blends of jazz, pop and progressive metal. Their 2019 debut Limbo, which came out just months after their formation, was an immersive concept album experience. With The Fox and the Bird, Ok Goodnight wanted to make an even more story-driven concept album.
Similar to Limbo, Ok Goodnight created an original story for The Fox and the Bird, but this time around they invested much more time in fleshing out its plot and characters. What they came up with was a children’s-book-style tale of a fox and bird who travel to find a cure for a drought, meeting various other animals along the way.
Before writing any music, they planned the structure of the entire album based on their narrative, dividing the album into chapters. The band then crafted their ideal theme music for each chapter with the instrumentals (keyboardist Martín de Lima and his film scoring background no doubt helped), and then vocalist Casey Lee Williams (who some may recognize from the RWBY soundtrack) wrote vocal melodies and lyrics on top of it all. De Lima describes how the hardest part of the writing process was not coming up with the notes themselves, but rather perfecting the stylistic aspects to make the music sound entertaining, original and faithful to the story. Ok Goodnight’s process, which took two years to complete, made an album that listens almost like a book reads, with shifts in musical genre, style and expression corresponding to the plot and emotion of the story at every point.
The opening track “The Drought,” begins with an ominous throbbing synth before moving into a thundering bass and drum groove paired with epic vocals. The song is sorrowful, but also energetic and powerful enough to start the album strong, and the jazzy sections add unexpected smoothness.
The main characters come in with the title track “The Fox and the Bird,” a warm, carefree jazz-pop song with catchy choruses and lots of small instrumental flourishes. A sinister bridge section adds variety to the song, darkening the playful vibes.
“The Raccoon (And the Myth)” introduces the quest that the fox and bird must take, and strips things down to just vocals, atmospheric effects and acoustic guitar. The vocals in this song reminisce a sad Taylor Swift, which works well at first, but seems drawn out and melodramatic when Williams describes the quest itself.
The first leg of the story ends with “The Journey,” which transitions from longing piano into a chunky Dream-Theater-like metal instrumental, the first true metal moment of the album, though even here the band can’t resist breaking things up with a bluesy guitar solo. All in all, the first four songs of The Fox and the Bird leave the story in an optimistic place and hype the listener for what’s to come.
The body of the album features songs that function like boss battles between the fox and bird and various other animals. First up is “The Snake,” which enters with a dissonant, winding keyboard and guitar riff. It builds over time, like it’s constricting something and reaches such tense levels of madness that it can do nothing but collapse into sounds of laughter.
The tension breaks on “The Falcon,” a joyous, soaring blend of jazz, math rock and prog metal. The instrumental section, while long-winded, is intricate and dynamic and has an amusing reference to the infamous ragtime solo from Dream Theater’s “The Dance of Eternity.”
In “The Bear,” guitarist Martin Gonzalez unleashes the thickest, most enjoyable metal riffs of the album. Guest vocalist Elizabeth Hull (from Atomic Guava, another Berklee band) also provides savage death growls. At the same time, “The Bear” has some of the catchiest choruses, making the song a replayable highlight of the album.
“The Crocodile” is perhaps the most chaotic song on the album, with the band pulling out all their songwriting tools to keep things unpredictable (and to avoid the Disney-villain lyrics coming across as corny). “The Crocodile” has the least clear musical references to the animal it depicts, but the way the song creeps up and then strikes at the end is reminiscent of a croc attack.
The last leg of the album consists of a heartbreaking ballad in “The Bird,” the climax of the album in “The Mountain,” and the resolution in “The Rain.” In “The Mountain,” the madness that Ok Goodnight used in “The Snake” comes out even stronger, and so does the heaviness from “The Bear,” which creates a tension that can be overwhelming. The guitar riffs and vocal melodies are particularly amusing, referencing the physical shape of mountains by repeatedly moving up in pitch and down again. “The Mountain” ends on a cliff-hanger both musically and lyrics-wise. This resolves with deep relief in “The Rain,” a peaceful and cathartic song that ends with the sound of rainfall.
Overall, The Fox and the Bird is a balanced, intricate and emotional album. The quality of the songwriting and the performances should impress most fans of prog metal, jazz-pop or fantasy concept albums; enthusiasts of all three are in for the time of their lives. The instrumental performances are always on point, and Williams’ vocal delivery could not be more expressive. Unfortunately, the story-based nature of the music means that the album isn’t as well set up for repeated listens of individual songs. This is because when the story gets tense, the songs often respond with wild songwriting shifts that may seem unnecessary and over the top for someone not invested in the whole narrative. The story is essential, so this is an album best enjoyed in one sitting, with headphones in and no distractions around, letting the immersion take over. That said, this album includes many replayable moments, most of all the two singles (“The Fox and the Bird” and “The Bear”). The shift that this album makes from Limbo make it clear that Ok Goodnight are not done innovating.
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