Owl City "The Midsummer Station" Review
Posted September 07, 2012
By dreamingoutloud,
Owl City, in my opinion, is one of the greatest acts in Pop music right now. In 2009 he became greatly successful with his #1 hit "Fireflies." The album that it was one, Ocean Eyes, went on to become platnum. in 2011, when he returned with All Things Bright and Beautiful, he didn't get the platnum success he got with his debut. Therefore, Adam Young (a.k.a Owl City), decided to branch out and work with other people in the Pop music industry to try and get his music more into Pop culture. People like Emily Wright (engineer for Dr. Luke, who has produced many a Pop hit), Matt Thiesen (Relient K frontman), Mark Hoppus (Blink-182 singer/bassist), and Carly Rae Jepesen ("Call Me Maybe") are just a few of the people that are involved in the writing/recording of the new album, The Midsummer Station.
One thing that was immediatly noticeable to me, was how much more meaningful the lyrics to the new album are. Instead of Owl City very imaginative scenarios (which were very neat), Owl City connected with me better on this album just because of the more meaningful songs on the album .Two great examples are, first of all, "Dementia," which features Mark Hoppus of Blink-182. The song has the best lyrics on the whole entire album, as the song describes how reflecting on what's in the past can drive us crazy, according to Adam Young. "I'm Coming After You" is the best example of the most fun lyrics on the album. The song is about a man going after a woman who's stolen his heart, but the song is written like a cop chasing a robber. It has some very clever lines about police and law that are used to describe the man chasing the woman such as "You've the right to remain right here with me/ I'm on your tail in a hot pursuit/ Love is a high-speed chase racing down the street/ I'm coming after you."
One big reason for Owl City branching out was, because All Things Bright and Beautiful didn't sell well, the record company wanted him to make an album that would sell, therefore the album has a sound that is more mainstream than electronic. One very good example of this is the first (and may I add hit) single "Good Time." This song features Carly Rae Jepsen of "Call Me Maybe" fame, and her vocal performance is much better here than in "Call Me Maybe." These two really work great together, and it's a very catchy sing-along anthem about having a good time. One of the most interesting points musically on the album is "Silhouette." This is the only break in the stream of upbeat, poppy, songs. It starts out with Adam Young and a very nice piano track, nothing more than drums are added into the song, but Adam delievers great vocals, and although this song is a breakup song, the music is very pretty.
Overall, I am very impressed with The Midsummer Station. I think Owl City has benefitted greatly from working with others, and hopefully this will affect his future efforts, because it really works. This is Owl City's best effort to date and although this one contains little to none spiritual content (he is a Christian), the song have very good lyrics that stay away from being inapropriate. This is a refresher to those looking for clean pop music.
Rating: 10/10
Favorite Songs: Dementia, Good Time, Silhoutte, Embers, I'm Coming After You
God Bless!
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