Owl City’s Adam Young took a bold step forward on the new album by choosing to work with co-writers and outside producers for the first time. For example when it came to working on the first single released to Christian radio, “Shooting Star,” he enlisted his friend Matt Thiessen (Relient K), Stargate (Rihanna, Wiz Khalifa) and Robopop (Maroon 5), and on “Gold” – another focus track on the album – he enlisted the team of Josh Crosby, Nate Campany, and Emily Wright (Dr. Luke’s engineer).
In addition to working with other writers and producers, Young is joined by two very exciting guests on the new album. On “Dementia,” Young is joined by one of his heroes, blink-182’s Mark Hoppus. The song documents some of the more psychotic thoughts and feelings Young dealt with in the wake of his platinum debut album, Ocean Eyes, and is one of the more rock-inspired cuts on the new album. And on the album’s first single at mainstream radio, the incredibly infectious pop gem “Good Time” (written and produced by Adam Young, with Matthew Thiessen and Brian Lee as co-writers), Young is joined in a duet by “Call Me Maybe” star Carly Rae Jepsen.
By embracing the idea of working with others, Young was able to grow as an artist and producer and really explore new aspects of song writing and production. This openness was born out of several positive experiences collaborating with other artists including Paul van Dyk (“Eternity”) and Armin van Buuren (“Youtopia”). The eleven songs on the new album reflect this growth while still retaining Young’s synth-driven melodic pop sensibility.
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Owl City "The Midsummer Station" Review| Posted September 07, 2012
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
What Happened to Owl City| Posted August 30, 2012
I think we all saw this coming after the Shooting Stars EP was released and the Good Times single came out. All Things Bright and Beautiful was such a great album. It was an example of what Owl City was so great at; combining fun electro beats with randomish yet poetic lyrics. I have to say that this album was very disappointing for me personally. The music is just so related to the mainstream pop, and people have said that he was "exploring and expanding" his music. I disagree COMPLETELY! I believed he was pioneering something, something where you didn't have shallow lyrics and beats that sound exactly the same over and over and over.... I hope Adam realizes his mistakes and comes out with a record similar to Ocean Eyes and All Things Bright and Beautiful. In the end, not bad record, but it's NOT Owl City.
I Fought the Record Label and the Record Label Won| Posted August 22, 2012
It only felt like yesterday that Adam Young of Owl City put out his sophomore album All Things Bright and Beautiful. That's probably because it was yeasterday, proverbially speaking. ATBAB was released just over about 400 days or so ago and now we get to look forward to his third outing The Midsummer Station. Does this album continue the trend of fun electro dance pop music that Owl City is known for? Does Young craft more lyrical poeticism that makes these songs have more depth and meaning? Yes... kind of for the first question and not really for the second question. Yes there are some fun sounding songs on here but the beats don't sound up to the level and quality that Owl City provides. See, All Things Bright and Beautiful didn't sell all that well and the label, Universal Republic, basically made Adam to make an Owl City album that would sell. That's why this is coming out so soon after the last album and that's why you hear Carly Rae Jepsen, of all people, being a guest vocalist on one of the songs. Lyrically, Adam tries to write more of that excellent poetry that was apparent on the previous albums but the label influence appears here as well and what he ends up with is just your average pop song lyrics minus the sex references.
The Midsummer Station is an album that screams label influence. The electro sounds Adam Young is known for end up sounding like any other mainstream pop album and the lyrics aren't as deep as they were in previous albums. Songs like "Embers," "Silhouette," and perhaps the best track of the album "Take It All Away" show us the Owl City of old and are the highlights of the album. As it stands, The Midsummer Station is probably my least favorite Owl City album to date.
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