Young Delivers Old Style on Owl City
NEIRAD enilno edition
Owl City, Adam Young’s solo project, has recently rocketed to mainstream success on the wave of the popularity its hit single “Fireflies” has brought to this Minnesota musician.
Young has released two albums and an EP since 2007, but his most recent album is his first to climb high on the charts. Titled Ocean Eyes, it is also the first one he has put out through a label (Universal Republic), as opposed to a self-released project.
Fans of Ocean Eyes will be glad to know the company has not forced Young to alter his style (mild electronic/Christian pop). Given creative freedom, Young’s new album has the exact same feel as his other work. Depending on your tolerance, this provides an either extremely moving or completely boring listen.
Young has composed 13 original works for Ocean Eyes. Every song is of major key tonality, but by no means is this album an explosion of joyous glee. Most songs are built upon ballady chord progressions that are presented in rhythmically simple patterns.
One of Young’s favorite tricks is to hit each chord on the first beat of the measure and let it shimmer for its remainder. Bass lines are few and far between, as Young apparently prefers to use his lower range to present a chord with predictable pulses.
Frequently a trebly arpeggio will be chirping in the background: melodic analog chatter, like Mariah plus dial-up. Over all of these components are myriad melody-epics sung to lyrics or played in instrumental interludes—usually more than one per song. This adds up to produce an intensely peaceful and overwhelmingly mellow while somehow still dramatic aesthetic that results in sedation when blasted at higher decibel levels. It is 52.7 minutes of the same hypnotic passion, each and every song with the same feel.
Young’s voice is just as steady. The pure tone of Young’s music coupled with his lyrics make him sound like a child without sounding immature. In ,“Hello Seattle,” he sounds like a kid playing make-believe with a template of, “Hello Seattle, I am mountaineer/a manta ray/etc.” Most of Young’s songs contain this imagination theme like in Fireflies when he says, “my dreams are bursting at the seams.” A couple of Young’s songs sound like love songs, but never sound lewd. His romantic fantasies are the spirit of innocence: “we’ll pick apples in late September…we tend to make each other blush” (the Bird and the Worm). His songs are full of cute wordplay like, “Golf and alcohol don’t mix so that’s why I don’t drink and drive,” and, “I’d rather pick flowers instead of fights” (Dental Care).
The kicker, though, is his meekly self-unsure tone. Young talks at length about being uncomfortable in his own skin and feeling awkward around people. It is vulnerable, as if Young can’t understand why people act the way they do. This theme underlies every word. Also noteworthy is that Young doesn’t swear once on the entire album. The words are certainly a departure from other popular electronic dance music that is all about sex and dancing to the music, and some will appreciate this artistic choice.
The music is powerful and the lyrics are harmless, but I can’t help but get the feeling that I’m listening to the same song over and over again on Ocean Eyes. All the songs are intensely passionate, but everything is relative. There is no real change in the essence of the music, as Young uses the same musical tricks and sings about the same themes the whole entire album. It is flat-line, lacking variety. Lack of coherency can destroy an album, but an album one-dimensional as this is pushing it. Eventually I find myself wondering if Young can say or put forth anything else. And while the music is all good, none of it is cutting edge. The structures, layers, are formulaic and predictable.
When done right and in moderation this is perfectly acceptable, but Ocean Eyes takes this a bit too far. Others with different tastes may latch on to the raw passion and enjoy every second of Young’s album. Others may enjoy it for its Christian undertones (on his MySpace page, Young lists God as his top influence). But beware—if you buy the whole album be prepared to ask yourself, “Why didn’t I just buy his single?”
