Owl City has only recently come into the spotlight with its hit "Fireflies." Owl City is known for its unique synthpop sound and naive, lighthearted lyrics. For the sake of time and space, I will not be reviewing Owl City's two independent albums. I will only review the album that was produced under the label Universal Republic called "Ocean Eyes."
Quick Bio-
Owl City isn't an actual band with several members. The "band" actually consists of one guy named Adam Young who started out making music in his basement. Adam's unique sound was influenced by European electronic music. Adam Young first started making and recording music as a result of his insomnia. His songs soon became viral on MySpace. Adam released two indie albums of his own until he was signed to the label Universal Republic. Soon after, Adam released the album "Ocean Eyes" in June of 2009. His single "Fireflies" became widely popular and is the most-downloaded song on iTunes.
"Fireflies", by far Owl City's most popular song, is about Adam Young's imaginative dream of being hugged by thousands of fireflies. The song in itself is innocent and whimsical, and it contains many childish lyrics, such as, "I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly," and "I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs as they tried to teach me how to dance." The music video is somewhat mysterious, containing clips of Adam Young tinkering with instruments and toys inside of a child's bedroom, presumably his own.
"Cave In" is a song about running away. Its lyrics are innocent, if not vague and confusing. Adam Young's style of writing is both descriptive and imaginative. This style is found in the chorus of "Umbrella Beach." "Home will always be here, unseen, outta sight where I disappear and hide. I think dreamy things as I'm waving goodbye, so I'll spread out my wings and fly." "Saltwater Room" and "On the Wing" are dreamy-toned love songs. "Hello Seattle" is a metaphoric song that most people seem to believe is talking about Adam's relationship with a girl instead of a city. However, Adam has a different perspective of the song.
If you're looking for a comedic song, "Dental Care" is about Adam's visits to his dentist and relating fears. On the "iffy" side, Adam sings about potential accidents involving alcohol and a golf club. "Golf and alcohol don't mix and that's why I don't drink and drive, because good grief, I'd knock out my teeth and have to kiss my smile goodbye."
"Meteor Shower" is sparing on lyrics, but it appears to be a sweet love song as well. "Tidal Wave" is a song about overcoming insecurities and fears in a relationship, while "Vanilla Twilight" is a song about missing a beloved girl that has gone away. You can envision the cold touch of winter and imagine all that lies between the lines when you hear "The Tip of the Iceberg," a poetic, wintery song.
The most "iffy" lyrics in the album come from "If My Heart Was A House" and "The Bird and the Worm." In "If My Heart Was A House," Adam sings, "Chills run down my spine as our fingers entwine and your sides harmonize with mine. Unmistakably, I can still feel your heart beat fast when you dance with me." The song does not specifically talk about a sexual encounter, but it can easily be perceived as a song about an intimate romance. You can find a similar meaning in "The Bird and the Worm." "If you're my girl, swirl me around your room with feeling and as we twirl, the glow in the dark stars on your ceiling will shine for us as love sweeps over the room, 'cause we tend to make each other blush." Again, nothing sexually explicit, but one can easily imagine what Adam may or may not be singing about. I will leave these two songs up to you to decide whether or not you choose to add them to your playlist.
Adam Young of Owl City professes himself to be a Christian, although he prefers to put his music into the mainstream industry rather than into the Christian media.
Overall, Owl City's songs refrain from cussing and inappropriate lyrics. Adam Young tends to sing about nature, life and love with naive, innocent words that uplift his fans rather than bring them down. If you are already a fan or considering becoming a fan of Owl City, then I have nothing to say against his music.
Owl City has recently toured with Relient K, a Christian rock band. Adam Young appears to be enjoying his success- and even his insomnia- at this point in his career. I'll end with a quote from the odd musician.
Owl City isn't an actual band with several members. The "band" actually consists of one guy named Adam Young who started out making music in his basement. Adam's unique sound was influenced by European electronic music. Adam Young first started making and recording music as a result of his insomnia. His songs soon became viral on MySpace. Adam released two indie albums of his own until he was signed to the label Universal Republic. Soon after, Adam released the album "Ocean Eyes" in June of 2009. His single "Fireflies" became widely popular and is the most-downloaded song on iTunes.
"Fireflies", by far Owl City's most popular song, is about Adam Young's imaginative dream of being hugged by thousands of fireflies. The song in itself is innocent and whimsical, and it contains many childish lyrics, such as, "I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly," and "I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs as they tried to teach me how to dance." The music video is somewhat mysterious, containing clips of Adam Young tinkering with instruments and toys inside of a child's bedroom, presumably his own.
"Cave In" is a song about running away. Its lyrics are innocent, if not vague and confusing. Adam Young's style of writing is both descriptive and imaginative. This style is found in the chorus of "Umbrella Beach." "Home will always be here, unseen, outta sight where I disappear and hide. I think dreamy things as I'm waving goodbye, so I'll spread out my wings and fly." "Saltwater Room" and "On the Wing" are dreamy-toned love songs. "Hello Seattle" is a metaphoric song that most people seem to believe is talking about Adam's relationship with a girl instead of a city. However, Adam has a different perspective of the song.
"I have this thing for ocean towns. Growing up in a small farm town in the middle of nowhere, and because I am an only child, daydreaming about faraway places took up a lot of my time and energy as a kid. I also like the way Seattle sounds when you say it. It has a ring to it."
"Meteor Shower" is sparing on lyrics, but it appears to be a sweet love song as well. "Tidal Wave" is a song about overcoming insecurities and fears in a relationship, while "Vanilla Twilight" is a song about missing a beloved girl that has gone away. You can envision the cold touch of winter and imagine all that lies between the lines when you hear "The Tip of the Iceberg," a poetic, wintery song.
The most "iffy" lyrics in the album come from "If My Heart Was A House" and "The Bird and the Worm." In "If My Heart Was A House," Adam sings, "Chills run down my spine as our fingers entwine and your sides harmonize with mine. Unmistakably, I can still feel your heart beat fast when you dance with me." The song does not specifically talk about a sexual encounter, but it can easily be perceived as a song about an intimate romance. You can find a similar meaning in "The Bird and the Worm." "If you're my girl, swirl me around your room with feeling and as we twirl, the glow in the dark stars on your ceiling will shine for us as love sweeps over the room, 'cause we tend to make each other blush." Again, nothing sexually explicit, but one can easily imagine what Adam may or may not be singing about. I will leave these two songs up to you to decide whether or not you choose to add them to your playlist.
Adam Young of Owl City professes himself to be a Christian, although he prefers to put his music into the mainstream industry rather than into the Christian media.
"I don't write Christian songs but I am a Christian musician so I suppose the classification of the band is up to the listener. My faith is very important to me and is a very big part of who I am as an individual. It's kind of up to you."
Overall, Owl City's songs refrain from cussing and inappropriate lyrics. Adam Young tends to sing about nature, life and love with naive, innocent words that uplift his fans rather than bring them down. If you are already a fan or considering becoming a fan of Owl City, then I have nothing to say against his music.
Owl City has recently toured with Relient K, a Christian rock band. Adam Young appears to be enjoying his success- and even his insomnia- at this point in his career. I'll end with a quote from the odd musician.
"I'd rather be happy than sad. I'd rather eat donuts than rocks. Those are my thoughts."Any input or critiques? Would you like me to review a music artist or band, secular or Christian? Leave your comments below.
I'm a huge fan of Owl City. I'm glad you reviewed him. I'm glad that he has had success both in the Christian and mainstream market.
ReplyDeleteI listen to U2, System of a Down, Train, some Phil Coulter, Green Day, Blink182, and Robbie Williams.
ReplyDeleteSo, does that automatically make me adverse to synthpop?
Uhh, no. I discovered Owl City 2 months ago, and it's literally taken over my mind. I can't go to the beach without invoking Umbrella Beach's lyrics anymore. Sure, it was a bit too thumpy but the rythms were top-notch. Dental Care made me laugh; Resilient K might have contributed most of the sounds, but the piano melodies floating throughout the song kept it alive. My favorite, Cave In, literally ripped open its own structure three times- Count that, three times- to go in whole new directions, and when the final style change hit you get treated to an incredible 40-second orchestral and bell breakdown of heavenly quality. The Tip of the Iceberg invoked sheer wit in its lyricism, and the gradual climb of levels throughout the three minutes it lasts is just so subtle and well done.
I have no clue who the Postal Service is, but it seems to me all the haters out there are people so wrapped up by the Postal Service... That they refuse to even acknowledge that somebody else can create synthpop as well. If he sounds the same, I wouldn't know since I don't know them.
Lyric correction: your SIGHS harmonize with mine, not SIDES. Just thought that might be helpful. :)
ReplyDeleteI thought it was "your SIZE harmonizes with mine" doesnt make sense, but its owl city. sooo yea.
ReplyDeleteOWL CITY (ADAM YOUNG) IS THE MOST AMAZING MUSIC OF THE DECADE. I LOVE THE WAY HIS MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL. HIS LYRICS ARE LIKE HEAVEN, THE EMOTIONS HIS SONGS EVOKE ARE UTTERLY AMAZING; BEAUTIFUL IN THE PUREST SENSE. THANK YOU ADAM, FOR SHARING YOUR MUSIC WITH THE WORLD. IT MAKES ME HAPPY, IT GIVES ME CHILLS, IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE SMILING...FOREVER.
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with Owl City over a year ago. By far my favorite artist. His is so whimsical and true poetry. Sometimes he is all I listen to. SOO GREAT AHH I LOVE HIS MUSIC!
ReplyDeleteP.s. Meteor show is about his faith, not a girl and so is Tidal Wave.
My favorite song of his is To the Sky. It was used in a newer movie that came out (Legend of the Guardians) I also like Rainbow Veins and Vanilla Twilight. Does anybody know how many songs he's made???
ReplyDeleteHuge fan of Owl City too =D. I mean, wow, his music is fantastic! By far, he is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Owl City!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE OWL CITY!!!!!!!! I DON'T THINK THAT ANY OF HIS LYRICS ARE IFFY. BUT GREAT REVIEW.
ReplyDeleteI find this (un)band somewhat...odd. Ever since I heard the first single from them...him. ha. And then I heard some other songs on the radio. Oh boy. My dad is convinced this guy is on drugs. lol
ReplyDeletei love owl city! =)
ReplyDeletegreat review!
I am a huge fan. I think he is under credited with the fact that the average person is spoiled by only hears the song's meaning if the writer gives it away. Some give it away with the title, which is a little sad. The whole music industry could use some improving. Also (as a side note), they call heavy metal "The Devil's Music" when rap and pop songs tend to have more iffy lyrics. That makes me cringe. Anyway, if you're a fan of poetry (or if you're not) then I would say that you would love Owl City. I tend to avoid anything past the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" album except shooting star, embers, and silhouette, because the songs lose most of their uniqueness
ReplyDeleteI will now review certain highlight songs.
Tip of the Iceberg: Listen to it. Right now. It has amazing beats, ultimate rhythms, lyrics open to interpretation (just like any other Owl City song) and will probably appeal to most audiences capable of thinking. 10/10 for pure Owlsomeness.
On the Wing: Do I really need to say it? This song is what truly represents Owl City. It takes the elements from his happier songs, and reconstructs them, somehow making more bread after dividing the loaves he had, and created a song of pure Owlsomeness. 10/10.
How I Became the Sea: This is possibly the deepest that an Owl City song has, and will ever go. I also think more work has been put into this song than most other songs out there. That combined with the fact that it can't really seem to get old, in fact it seems to be one of the four songs I can't get on Xbox music (I wouldn't be listening to it if it weren't for the fact that the audio is amazing). It also just blows away those that can stand to stop and listen. 10/10 again for pure Owlsomeness.
Bombshell Bomb: Arguably the worst song in Owl City, it is just like all of the crap on the radio. It definitely doesn't deserve to even be rated. ' nuff said.
Those were a few, but You should really check out some others. These are just my top three, and bottom 0. In my opinion, Owl City is the greatest band ever.