MattBjorke's Full Review: Ocean Eyes [Digipak] * by Owl City
Having taken the pop music world by storm with the charming (or irritating) "Fireflies," Owl City started out -much like Foo Fighters, Rocket Summer and other bands- as the work of a singular figure, in this case Minnesota-based synth auteur Adam Young. Using computers and electronic recording techniques, Adam Young crafted stunningly creative electronic pop that first gained notice in places like MySpace before catching on in late summer with top 40 stations. While I don't listen to Top 40 stations, I still do pay attention to the charts and when I saw "Fireflies" rising up the charts, I was quite curious as to whom and what this Owl City band was. I then saw their CD at Best Buy at a price point of $7.99 and decided to take a chance on the album with an interesting album cover, without ever hearing the album. Prior to having high-speed internet, this was a standard practice of mine and while I got burned by the practice from time to time, I ended up enjoying the music more often than not. So for "Owl City" and a few other purchases recently (Gary Go, Push Play, Hot Chelle Rae), I decided to go retro and retry this practice - as I was needing to purchase some new pop/rock music (I still get my country music fix via my day job) from an actual brick and mortar record store, not just from iTunes.
While I can enjoy electronic music in a discotheque environment, I typically don't listen to much of the music outside of that club environment so the fact that I've ended up liking Ocean Eyes as much as I have is completely due to the fact that it jibes with my rock/pop musical tastes (sweeping sonicscapes, and power/pop and a dose balladry for good measure) and it's a generally interesting record. Sure it comes off as a easier-to-digest offshoot of the Postal Service but this may be one of the best and most charming aspects of Owl City's music. While it doesn't deviate much over the course of the record, there are guitar-based tracks like "The Saltwater Room" which features a nice male/female vocal dynamic with Minneapolis-based singer Breanne Duren providing the female vocals. Even though Young has admitted to writing his songs with Christian themes, the album still maintains a pseudo-edge to keep it mainstream enough to play well in pop circles.
The single that started it all for Owl City, "Fireflies" (which features Relient K's Matthew Thiessen on background vocals) has taken on a love-it or hate-it vibe for anyone who has heard the song. While it's easy to see that people who love guitar and piano-based music would be highly offended by the single, there's something about the whimsical vocal delivery and somewhat nonsensical lyrics that give the song ‘legs.' "Hello Seattle" follows a similar vibe as does "Vanilla Twilight." While Ocean Eyes may be a record that will ultimately not become ‘the greatest thing ever,' I am certainly happy to have purchased this album for it gives me another record to play when I want something that is soothing and/or relaxing. After all, not all music I listen to, electronic or not, needs to have a thumpin' bass line or a down-home groove to be appreciated.
From the quiet backroads of small-town Minnesota comes Owl City, the one-man project of keyboard wiz Adam Young. Ocean Eyes is awash in breezy electro...More at Christianbook.com
2009 sophomore release from the Minnesota-based Electro-Rock outfit AKA singer/songwriter Adam Young. While his music continues to win followers all o...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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