OneRepublic’s latest album “Oh My My,” which released worldwide on Oct. 7, boasts an eclectic selection of tracks in its over-an-hour-long series of varied tunes that don’t really conform to any particular genre. Unlike their other albums, which were a clear fusion of pop and rock with a distinctive touch that stood out among others, this album feels like a potpourri of styles, heavily leaning toward new age music. While it is certainly good to reinvent yourself, it begs the question of what extent you can push the limits. OneRepublic has been known for unique chorus elements that make its songs stand out amidst the repetitive-sounding mainstream tracks, but this album certainly raises questions about whether or not the band is headed down that same route.

The opening track, “Let’s Hurt Tonight,” has an interesting mix of acoustic sounds and rhythmic beats and is very similar to their previous hit “Counting Stars” in the way it builds. Starting slow and building up to the chorus with increasing layers of vocals and instruments, lead Ryan Tedder draws in the audience with his vocal range. As an opening song, this works well to get people interested in the album because of its distinct OneRepublic style that gives it the potential to be a pop arena anthem.

The next song, “Future Looks Good,” is very much focused on the instruments, especially heavy piano sounds, as compared to vocals. You will find yourself swaying along to the catchy tune, but you will probably forget the tune afterward. This isn’t exactly one of their standout, chorus-filled tracks. But all the same, the song does provide a peppy, upbeat mood with a positive spin on life (“I swear that you are, you are the future/And the future looks good”) after the “love can be a painful mess” scenario presented in “Let’s Hurt Tonight.” This song, to some extent, is also about being honest and enjoying the positivity in the truth (“Because you know anybody, everybody else can lie/But honey, I won’t see you with a, see you with a broken set of eyes”).

Next in line, the title track, “Oh My My,” begins with a groovy bass beat but incorporates much more electronic sounds than we usually see in their songs. This is where French musical duo Cassius plays its part. The electronic theme echoes through the next songs, “Kids” and “Dream.” It’s somewhat hard to tell the songs apart because they flow into one another. “Kids” has a nostalgic element reminiscent of childhood days (“Way I feel right now/I swear we’ll never change/Back when we were kids, swore we would never die/You and me were kids, swear that we’ll never die”). The lyrics may not be out of the box, but it does a good job with its weird yet catchy chorus. “Dream” has a similar strong focus on the instrumentation and features good buildups and verses. However, the drop seems over the top in proportion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6lwjnQKfsY

The sixth song, “Choke,” goes against the mood set by the electronic beats with it gospel-like quality and its general theme of the pain of losing a loved one. The deep vocals unpack the emotionally charged lyrics in spite of an overall upbeat tune. This song is more down to earth and distinctive in style, with its moving orchestral arrangement. It doesn’t feel like a rehash of something we’ve already heard before.

The next one, “A.I.,” features ‘80s singer Peter Gabriel. The song portrays how fake love is these days, and it uses a nice mix of hollow, techno-style space sounds to reflect the theme of everything being computer-generated and “automatic.” Although it’s pretty long (over five minutes), it packs in a good message.

The next two tracks, “Better” and “Born,” are more characteristic of the alternative style than of pop music. “Better” is full of staccato notes and quick-paced lyrics, whereas “Born” starts off with a blend on interesting beats, including some Indian percussion beats. Once again, the focus seems to be more on the sounds rather than on the voice.

“Fingertips,” the tenth track on the 16-track album, does a good job with its steel-guitar-esque instrumental sounds and more focused vocals that are falsettos of a breathy, ethereal quality (“We were running from the waves on the shallows/Trying to keep ourselves alone and out of sight”). This, like “Choke” and the next song, “Human,” is definitely one of my favorite songs in the album.

“Human,” is an off-beat, prayerful dialogue between a man and God, wherein God poses questions about the feeling of being human with the strangest of descriptions and analogies. On another note, the song hints at how a medicated generation strives for a deep, transcendental experience. The next song, “Lift Me Up,” is similar in style. Both “Human” and “Lift Me Up” are upbeat and repetitive, and, in spite of good lyrics, at times it’s hard to hear the words in the midst of all the things going on.

Then, we get to hear the last collaboration on the album. “NbHD,” an abbreviation of neighborhood, is a collaboration with singer and producer Santigold, featuring jumpy, fist-pumping beats. There’s nothing special about this song. It seems pretty repetitive and certainly lacks the unique quality that people generally expect from OneRepublic songs. The beats dominate the next two songs, “Wherever I Go” (the popular lead single that’s been playing on the radio for some time now) and “All These Things.” They sound like somewhat recycled versions of “Love Runs Out” and “Preacher” from their previous album. But the album packs in another upbeat, feel-good stadium anthem called “Heaven” as the closing track, which sums up the overall feel of this album as one that breaks its usual genre conventions.

Ironically, the popular number “If I Lose Myself,” from the band’s previous album, foreshadows the spirit of the album. They certainly seem to have been lost in the new age sounds and instrumentation but what is left to the listeners to decide is whether they’ve lost themselves in the process. My verdict is that the band’s still present as OneRepublic in a few of the better numbers, but, for the most part, seem to drift along the mainstream instrument-overloaded cliches.