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Sep 10, 2018 Web Exclusive By Lee Adcock

A funny thing happened after February. The month before, you could count four separate Ought T-shirts at a Snail Mail gig in Atlanta. But a month after, suddenly no one wanted to talk about what used to be the underground’s favorite post-existentialist saviors from Montréal. Room Inside the World, the band’s third album and first on a major indie label, was designed to spread love and understanding. Instead, the fan base split right down the middle.

This stopgap EP won’t convert the departed to return to the cult. But in the silent months since their last tour, the four guys decided to each take a turn at the heartland ballad “Desire”—and for those who stayed to watch Ought mature, this tape rewards your loyalty. The three remixes venture into territories that the full band rarely explores: Tim Keen’s tropical mix adds some much-needed levity, Matt May teases out the horns for an Aaron Copland-like fanfare, and Ben Stidworthy spaces out with a contemplative dub. Meanwhile, Tim Darcy opts for a stripped-back cover—which might sound ho-hum on paper, but really this more delicate take almost feels more in tune with the confession at the heart of “Desire” than the dramatic gospel on Room Inside the World.

If anything, Four Desires affirms that four distinct minds shape the ever-shifting wavelengths of Ought. The disenchanted can write the tape off as a novelty-but the devoted know that these curious ideas could spur on the band’s already rapid growth. (www.ought.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 7/10