OK Goodnight
Boston art rockers collage modern prog with the abstract and artful.
“The cool thing about the prog world is that it’s very open to opposites, dynamics, and mixing of genres.”
With their third album, 'stop/go', Boston, Massachusetts art rockers OK Goodnight are a band reborn. They've shifted from the heavier sound spearheaded by their former guitarist, Martin Gonzalez, on 2023's impressive concept album 'The Fox And The Bird', to rest in a sound far more expressive and dynamic.
“The writing process is always changing; we’re always looking for new things to do and ways to push boundaries,” says drummer/guitarist Augusto Bussio.
Sure, they still have propulsive moments, but they're blended into a sound where jazz, hip-hop, modern prog, clever sampling and surreal soundscaping unite for something very fresh, and very exciting. It’s breathless stuff.
“What’s really beautiful is that whatever genres we’re listening to, we don't have to hide it in this band,” smiles bassist Peter de Reyna.
It was Gonzalez, alongside Bussio and pianist/guitarist Martín de Lima who formed the band while they were students at Berklee College. Fellow classmate, vocalist Casey Lee Williams, was next through door, with de Reyna joining after the release of their sophomore. As Bussio says, “we started as a band of students, but now we’ve graduated, and we have grown up ambitions.”
With their collaboration comes a willingness to embrace new sounds, ensuring the music they make never stays in one place.
“The cool thing about the prog world is that it’s very open to opposites, dynamics, and mixing of genres,” says de Lima. “But our main goal is to communicate emotion; we want to feel something.”
Conversation, they say, is everything. They’re book-smart musicians, but they write from the heart.
“Tastefulness is always important,” says Williams. “Our weird production elements and time signatures are purposeful; we’re not being wacky for the sake of it.”
With Bussio and de Lima now handling guitars, but “not thinking like guitar players,” 'stop/go' pulls them away from their previously metal-first sound.
“We want gnarliness, but we also want details and intricacies, which you can lose with high-gain,” de Lima notes. “Animals As Leaders are a great example of a band that has synthy textures and very clean guitar playing that’s still aggressive.”
de Lima describes their music as “an audio collage” and that’s a concept that bleeds into their artwork and music videos, which expand on the band’s storytelling, making their third album an impactful multimedia experience. And where its predecessor was a fully-fledged concept album about animals and mythology, Williams is writing “in a very abstract and free way” here.
“I’m exploring the complexities of society and what it is to be a person in a crazy melting pot of culture, race, and sexuality,” she details. “One philosophical idea that we explore with our music is the chaotic beauty of life and existence, and the contradictions of what it is to exist.”
That sentiment rings true through 'stop/go'’s complex-yet-sparkling and addictive music and lyrics that are at once vulnerable and visceral – as life makes us all. OK Goodnight might just be one of the most exciting new prog bands on the planet in 2026.
- Phil Weller
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Casey Lee Williams (vocals), Martín de Lima (piano/guitar), Augusto Bussio (drums/guitar), Peter de Reyna (bass)
SOUNDS LIKE:The emotive and expansive art rock of Mars Volta and Bent Knee with a twisting technicality that weaves through rock, jazz, hip hop, and prog
CURRENT RELEASE: 'stop/go' is out now via De Ligma Records
WEBSITE: Ok Goodnight