There are some albums that translate well to imagination, due to their images, themes or tempo and Oh, The Story!s Good Morning Illumination, is definitely one of these. The listener can close their eyes and concentrate on the musics lyrical nature to pick out a sordid tale that twines its way from song to song, or simply enjoy tunes that manage to stay unique with each track. If Brand New made a record sometime between Your Favorite Weapon and Dja Entendu, it probably would have come out similar to Good Morning Illumination. Oh, The Story! doesnt use quite as many overlapping vocals or repeated phrases, and singer James Larson sounds more aggressive than Brand News Jesse Lacey, but the music is very similar, as are the subjects. Good Morning Illumination focuses on love, sin, regret, and the inexplicable bond that can hold two people together.

They say, where theres smoke theres fire, but I say, where theres love theres liars, about sums up the conceptual side of the album. The Overture, the instrumental opening track, sets the mood by picking a few gentle, bitter, notes on a guitar that are backed after one repetition by an electric keyboard, adding a feeling of clairvoyance. The next few track, I Am and Come Hell of High Water are purely powerful rock, but the band decides to switch things up for song number four, Sin, Repent, Repeat. The horns and keyboard in this track makes it sound like a number from a musical, while, later on, Room and Board is a smooth tune that would be perfect for a karaoke bar.

The songs on Good Morning Illumination sound good individually but are especially strong as a unified piece of art. The lyrics are accessible but not overly blunt, boldly pronounced lines like no one ever died from a night of holding hands or I watched the light spill from your eyes like dancing crystals, automatically create images. The mysterious hidden track, Its Not An Ending At All, was the most visually pleasing, outlining, in vivid detail, one final scene with our hero and heroine. The storyline itself was fun to unravel, but the songs were not all so focused that the listener cant ignore the plot if they choose to. The band leave room for themselves to continue the narrative in the next album, and hopefully they will choose to do so, along with continuing to explore the diverse aspects of their sound.

You can check out their Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/ohthestory.