Room Inside the World

What Ought achieve on this album both surpasses and expands on what they've already built. A joyous philosophical cacophony that finds new ways to inform, excite and challenge the listener.

It’s post-punk theatre through and through, full of bright colours and left turns, with enough returning cast members to keep the old heads in their seats (“bring back the old Ought!”).

Though it’s hard not to miss the old energy, ultimately, the band’s newfound sense of stability turns out to be a good look for them--and one that suggests the milk of human kindness does a body good.

Some might say that Room Inside the World is too far removed from the manic proto-punk stylings of Today More Than Any Other Day or the barrage of organized noise that was Sun Coming Down, but this reviewer is of the opinion that those were building blocks that still exist in the final structure of this new album. It's just that the ways in which they support this new structure might not be what anyone expected, but the unexpected, in this case, is a pretty damn good surprise.

There’s a nagging feeling that they may still be a bit too obtuse for commercial success. The rest of us can just enjoy one of the early musical highlights of 2018.

Anxiety might still be rooted in Ought’s foundations, but by looking beyond it the four-piece have made their richest, greatest work yet.

For an album whose lyrics often feel despondent, this record feels like a gracefully administered tonic.

This balance of immediacy and distance makes Room Inside the World Ought's fullest work to date. The members of Ought like to be out there in the Montréal music community, playing for and with people they know. You can picture these new songs suffusing a live setting, where bodies let go.

An album of quite magnificent mardiness. [Mar 2018, p.94]

Teeming with new developments and heralding a welcome lightening of touch, this is a major step forward. [Mar 2018, p.114]

Room Inside the World is a trove of art-rock and post-punk. Always leaving the listener quite unsure of its potential, it cements Ought’s reputation as an exciting band perfectly capable of evolution and reinvention.

Given Ought’s radical inklings, you wish they dared to make these lovely songs say or do something a little more righteous, to twist them into more adventurous shapes. However, Ought achieve this spectacularly on the blue-eyed soul of “Desire.” It towers over Room Inside the World like the album’s lighthouse.

The album is strong but is a marked change in direction, nonetheless.

Ever the showman, Darcy and company have engineered a refreshing return which though softer around the edges than previous Ought releases, is no less gratifying.

Ought are moving forward on Room Inside the World, adding new elements to their sound while largely retaining the tension that makes the band so compelling.

On Room Inside The World, we hear them filling out their sound with synths, vibraphone and--on "Desire"--a 70-piece choir, an the songs are growing too, laced with emotional nuance. [Mar 2018, p.31]

Their third album, Room Inside The World, seems far too safe compared to their past efforts.