Owl City
(2007-Present, Ages 10 and Up)
7/1/16
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One morning a few years back, I was listening to the radio while driving to school. I usually prefer one of my own CDs over the pop and rock of today, especially first thing in the morning, but truth be told, I was feeling kind of lazy and just wanted to occupy my mind with something else for the fifteen-minute drive, even if what I heard was totally forgettable in the end. It was around the time I was parking that a song came on, one which I had never heard before. When it was finished, I slowly turned off the car . . . and just sat in my driver’s seat for several minutes, the parts of the song I could remember playing over and over in my head. “What in the world did I just hear?” I kept asking myself. I’m serious, it was one of those moments: my mind had been completely and utterly blown. Not only was the tune pleasantly fresh and upbeat, but the lyrics seemed to describe, of all things, what sounded like someone, unable to sleep, dancing to the flickering lights and dreamlike flight . . . of fireflies. Memorizing as many of the lyrics as I could, I vowed to look up the artist after my morning classes . . . and the rest is history. J (By the way, Owl City’s creator shares the same birthday, July 5th, as my little sister. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMANDA!)
Owl City is an “indietronica”/synthpop music project created by Adam Young, a singer and songwriter hailing from Owatonna, Minnesota. It was conceived during a time when Young was suffering from insomnia. (I wonder if this is what helped to inspire the project’s name: owls are nocturnal animals, after all.) In order to cope, he recorded music in his parents’ basement. He began uploading his songs to Myspace and then later to iTunes, along with continually maintaining a strong presence online with regular blogs. This gave him the listener attention he needed to eventually make a label deal with Universal Republic in 2009. While by no means his only project, it is easily Young’s best known, under the name of which he has, to date, released five albums and performed for soundtracks for such feature films as Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Wreck-It Ralph, The Croods, and The Smurfs 2, not to mention singing a certain “Wonderfilled” jingle for a charming little Oreo commercial back in 2013.
Owl City borrows heavily in style from genres like disco, drone, ambient, and post-rock. The combination of the various sounds of the synthesizer—from popping to flowing to spiraling—and more traditional instruments such as guitar and piano, allows for a wide range of musical moods for its songs, from light, bubbly, and fun, to otherworldly, romantic, and pensive.
If I had to choose one word to describe Young’s emotional sound, I think it would be “sincere”. Many songs of similar genres today—not all of them, I know, but as I’m sure at least some people will attest to, a LOT of them—tend to focus on topics like money, sex, drugs, partying, or cheesy, superficial “love”. But Owl City goes off in another direction entirely. One of Young’s greatest strengths as a lyricist is the ability to evoke feelings of youthful nostalgia, often for comedic effect. In the song, “Peppermint Winter”, for example, rather than simply sing the typical elaborate praises of the beauties of Christmas, he takes time to reminisce about some of the more earthbound—and sometimes less pleasant—experiences of the holiday season, like slipping and falling on icy pavement, getting attacked with freezing snow by an older sibling, and—horror of horrors!—getting nothing but clothing—i.e. “45 new pairs of socks”—on Christmas morning.
Similarly, he is a master at taking the most ordinary of subjects—like hair and wigs in “Rugs From Me to You”, or visiting the dentist in “Dental Care”—and turning it into something that’s amusingly memorable, but not so far-fetched or pretentious that listeners, no matter what their walk of life, wouldn’t be able to identify with it—sometimes whether they wanted to or not:
Dental Care
I've been to the dentist a thousand times so I know the drill
I smooth my hair, sit back in the chair
But somehow I still get the chills
“Have a seat” he says pleasantly
As he shakes my hand, and practically laughs at me
“Open up nice and wide” he says peering in
And with a smirk he says, “Don't have a fit, this'll just pinch a bit”
As he tries not to grin
There are some songs, however, that seem to take pride in their apparent nonsense—and these are among Owl City’s best. The lighter-hearted ones, such as “The Yacht Club”, “Hot Air Balloon”, or “Strawberry Avalanche”—now there is a song title that stands out—are the kind that could come only from the dreams of someone with a very active and childlike imagination, something that Young definitely has in spades and is not at all afraid to use:
Strawberry Avalanche
A grass blade flashed with a gleam as it slashed open a moonbeam
And I stared back breathlessly
As mountains of fruit tumbled out I barely had the chance to shout
Oh strawberry avalanche, crash over me
Quite often, straight-forward if poetic meanings, if there are any, don’t make themselves known; this is, sometimes especially, true of Young’s slower, more intense pieces, like my personal all-time favorite Owl City song, “How I Became the Sea”. One theme Young uses constantly in his music is nature, especially if it is related to the ocean. Such an image may evoke ideas and symbols as vast and deep as the image itself. Of course, there have been numerous ideas brought forward as to the meaning of this particular song, and that is certainly okay. But as for someone like me, this exemplifies how it’s sometimes better to simply allow oneself to be swept away by the tide of the music and its words for their own sake:
How I Became the Sea
The wide windy waves washed in
But I stayed dry
The great breakers broke again
As I nodded off inside
And then
When the Empress ran aground
And my eyes turned blue and green
I heard a gorgeous sound
And that's when it became a dream
When the sky fell in
When the hurricanes came for me
I could finally crash again
And that's how I became the sea
A different but no less powerful side of Young’s creativity shows itself in his more faith-based music. A devout Christian, Young naturally speaks of his love for God in many of his songs. Some of these are traditional—by which I mean the message, quite plainly, is the loving and worshiping of Christ. These include his covers of well-known Christian songs such as “In Christ Alone”, “How Deep the Father's Love for Us”, and “If I Stand”. His original Christian pieces include “The Christmas Song”, “You’re Not Alone,” and “My Everything”:
My Everything
When I can't get up and I can't go on
I run to you and you alone
'Cause you're my light in the dark
And I sing with all of my heart
Hallelujah
My almighty God divine
Hallelujah
I am yours and you are mine
This is all I know how to say
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
You're my everything
While these are most certainly enjoyable to listen to, there are other songs, like “Angels”, that stand out for more than just the inventive quality that Young is famous for. Here, the lyrics themselves seem to focus less on religious worship and more on the broad but comforting idea that we are not alone in this world or in this life. Thus, we can allow ourselves, despite hardship and without fear, to be immersed in the miracle of living, and doing so in a world with so much wonder to offer. This is most likely due in part to my being agnostic, but I prefer this particular approach in Young’s religious music, and not only because the words feel much more open to interpretation—much the way faith is by definition. It brings the appreciation of a higher power—sentient being or otherwise—to a fundamentally more human level. More to the point, it does so in a way that paints humanity as much more than just creatures of sin and weakness; it reminds us that we are also spirits of dreams, expression, creation, and love, both ready and willing to bring as much good unto the rest of the world as we are unto ourselves.
Angels
In the dust on my cellar staircase
A pair of footprints followed me
I saw a flicker in the fake fireplace
Blinked again but there was nothing to see
I've been leaving all the windows unlocked
With a basket by the oak tree
'Cause I'll be pickin' up the acorns that fall off
If you'll be climbing up to meet me
Living close to the ground
Is seventh Heaven 'cause there are angels all around
Among my frivolous thoughts
I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts
To me, the music of Owl City mirrors the mind of one who has clearly thought a great deal of his life and his experiences, both good and bad. And yet Young maintains a childlike optimism and whimsy throughout, not taking himself too seriously or pretending to be something he isn’t just in order to impress others. His shy and sensitive demeanor, along with his clear and almost boyish voice, belies a mind both brilliantly inventive and vividly profound, and a solid belief of humanity and the universe having been brought into existence out of love and with a purpose. A beautiful blend of surreal joy and down-to-earth wisdom, Owl City is an artist that encourages its listeners to dance to life . . . and to smile at whatever it brings.
CREDITS:
All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
MAIN THEME:
“The Call” – Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
Owl City is an “indietronica”/synthpop music project created by Adam Young, a singer and songwriter hailing from Owatonna, Minnesota. It was conceived during a time when Young was suffering from insomnia. (I wonder if this is what helped to inspire the project’s name: owls are nocturnal animals, after all.) In order to cope, he recorded music in his parents’ basement. He began uploading his songs to Myspace and then later to iTunes, along with continually maintaining a strong presence online with regular blogs. This gave him the listener attention he needed to eventually make a label deal with Universal Republic in 2009. While by no means his only project, it is easily Young’s best known, under the name of which he has, to date, released five albums and performed for soundtracks for such feature films as Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Wreck-It Ralph, The Croods, and The Smurfs 2, not to mention singing a certain “Wonderfilled” jingle for a charming little Oreo commercial back in 2013.
Owl City borrows heavily in style from genres like disco, drone, ambient, and post-rock. The combination of the various sounds of the synthesizer—from popping to flowing to spiraling—and more traditional instruments such as guitar and piano, allows for a wide range of musical moods for its songs, from light, bubbly, and fun, to otherworldly, romantic, and pensive.
If I had to choose one word to describe Young’s emotional sound, I think it would be “sincere”. Many songs of similar genres today—not all of them, I know, but as I’m sure at least some people will attest to, a LOT of them—tend to focus on topics like money, sex, drugs, partying, or cheesy, superficial “love”. But Owl City goes off in another direction entirely. One of Young’s greatest strengths as a lyricist is the ability to evoke feelings of youthful nostalgia, often for comedic effect. In the song, “Peppermint Winter”, for example, rather than simply sing the typical elaborate praises of the beauties of Christmas, he takes time to reminisce about some of the more earthbound—and sometimes less pleasant—experiences of the holiday season, like slipping and falling on icy pavement, getting attacked with freezing snow by an older sibling, and—horror of horrors!—getting nothing but clothing—i.e. “45 new pairs of socks”—on Christmas morning.
Similarly, he is a master at taking the most ordinary of subjects—like hair and wigs in “Rugs From Me to You”, or visiting the dentist in “Dental Care”—and turning it into something that’s amusingly memorable, but not so far-fetched or pretentious that listeners, no matter what their walk of life, wouldn’t be able to identify with it—sometimes whether they wanted to or not:
Dental Care
I've been to the dentist a thousand times so I know the drill
I smooth my hair, sit back in the chair
But somehow I still get the chills
“Have a seat” he says pleasantly
As he shakes my hand, and practically laughs at me
“Open up nice and wide” he says peering in
And with a smirk he says, “Don't have a fit, this'll just pinch a bit”
As he tries not to grin
There are some songs, however, that seem to take pride in their apparent nonsense—and these are among Owl City’s best. The lighter-hearted ones, such as “The Yacht Club”, “Hot Air Balloon”, or “Strawberry Avalanche”—now there is a song title that stands out—are the kind that could come only from the dreams of someone with a very active and childlike imagination, something that Young definitely has in spades and is not at all afraid to use:
Strawberry Avalanche
A grass blade flashed with a gleam as it slashed open a moonbeam
And I stared back breathlessly
As mountains of fruit tumbled out I barely had the chance to shout
Oh strawberry avalanche, crash over me
Quite often, straight-forward if poetic meanings, if there are any, don’t make themselves known; this is, sometimes especially, true of Young’s slower, more intense pieces, like my personal all-time favorite Owl City song, “How I Became the Sea”. One theme Young uses constantly in his music is nature, especially if it is related to the ocean. Such an image may evoke ideas and symbols as vast and deep as the image itself. Of course, there have been numerous ideas brought forward as to the meaning of this particular song, and that is certainly okay. But as for someone like me, this exemplifies how it’s sometimes better to simply allow oneself to be swept away by the tide of the music and its words for their own sake:
How I Became the Sea
The wide windy waves washed in
But I stayed dry
The great breakers broke again
As I nodded off inside
And then
When the Empress ran aground
And my eyes turned blue and green
I heard a gorgeous sound
And that's when it became a dream
When the sky fell in
When the hurricanes came for me
I could finally crash again
And that's how I became the sea
A different but no less powerful side of Young’s creativity shows itself in his more faith-based music. A devout Christian, Young naturally speaks of his love for God in many of his songs. Some of these are traditional—by which I mean the message, quite plainly, is the loving and worshiping of Christ. These include his covers of well-known Christian songs such as “In Christ Alone”, “How Deep the Father's Love for Us”, and “If I Stand”. His original Christian pieces include “The Christmas Song”, “You’re Not Alone,” and “My Everything”:
My Everything
When I can't get up and I can't go on
I run to you and you alone
'Cause you're my light in the dark
And I sing with all of my heart
Hallelujah
My almighty God divine
Hallelujah
I am yours and you are mine
This is all I know how to say
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
You're my everything
While these are most certainly enjoyable to listen to, there are other songs, like “Angels”, that stand out for more than just the inventive quality that Young is famous for. Here, the lyrics themselves seem to focus less on religious worship and more on the broad but comforting idea that we are not alone in this world or in this life. Thus, we can allow ourselves, despite hardship and without fear, to be immersed in the miracle of living, and doing so in a world with so much wonder to offer. This is most likely due in part to my being agnostic, but I prefer this particular approach in Young’s religious music, and not only because the words feel much more open to interpretation—much the way faith is by definition. It brings the appreciation of a higher power—sentient being or otherwise—to a fundamentally more human level. More to the point, it does so in a way that paints humanity as much more than just creatures of sin and weakness; it reminds us that we are also spirits of dreams, expression, creation, and love, both ready and willing to bring as much good unto the rest of the world as we are unto ourselves.
Angels
In the dust on my cellar staircase
A pair of footprints followed me
I saw a flicker in the fake fireplace
Blinked again but there was nothing to see
I've been leaving all the windows unlocked
With a basket by the oak tree
'Cause I'll be pickin' up the acorns that fall off
If you'll be climbing up to meet me
Living close to the ground
Is seventh Heaven 'cause there are angels all around
Among my frivolous thoughts
I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts
To me, the music of Owl City mirrors the mind of one who has clearly thought a great deal of his life and his experiences, both good and bad. And yet Young maintains a childlike optimism and whimsy throughout, not taking himself too seriously or pretending to be something he isn’t just in order to impress others. His shy and sensitive demeanor, along with his clear and almost boyish voice, belies a mind both brilliantly inventive and vividly profound, and a solid belief of humanity and the universe having been brought into existence out of love and with a purpose. A beautiful blend of surreal joy and down-to-earth wisdom, Owl City is an artist that encourages its listeners to dance to life . . . and to smile at whatever it brings.
CREDITS:
All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
MAIN THEME:
“The Call” – Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
All other tracks are by Owl City:
“Fireflies” (from Ocean Eyes)
“Wonderfilled Anthem” (Oreo jingle, 2013)
“Peppermint Winter” (Christmas single, 2010)
“Dental Care” (from Ocean Eyes [2009])
“Strawberry Avalanche” (from Ocean Eyes [Deluxe Edition Bonus Track] [2009]) (Edit)
“How I Became the Sea” (from All Things Bright and Beautiful [Bonus Track] [2011])
“My Everything” (from Mobile Orchestra [2015])
“Angels” (from All Things Bright and Beautiful [2011])
“This is the Future” (from Maybe I’m Dreaming [2008])
Download the full 15-minute episode here!
Owl City on Wikipedia
Owl City's Official Website
Owl City's Official YouTube Channel
Owl City's Facebook Page
Owl City's Twitter Page
Owl City on Myspace
Buy Owl City on Apple Music
Buy Owl City on Amazon
Buy Owl City on Barnes & Noble
Buy Owl City on Ebay
^^ Back to Music, Bands, and Other Creations of Sound
“Fireflies” (from Ocean Eyes)
“Wonderfilled Anthem” (Oreo jingle, 2013)
“Peppermint Winter” (Christmas single, 2010)
“Dental Care” (from Ocean Eyes [2009])
“Strawberry Avalanche” (from Ocean Eyes [Deluxe Edition Bonus Track] [2009]) (Edit)
“How I Became the Sea” (from All Things Bright and Beautiful [Bonus Track] [2011])
“My Everything” (from Mobile Orchestra [2015])
“Angels” (from All Things Bright and Beautiful [2011])
“This is the Future” (from Maybe I’m Dreaming [2008])
Download the full 15-minute episode here!
Owl City on Wikipedia
Owl City's Official Website
Owl City's Official YouTube Channel
Owl City's Facebook Page
Owl City's Twitter Page
Owl City on Myspace
Buy Owl City on Apple Music
Buy Owl City on Amazon
Buy Owl City on Barnes & Noble
Buy Owl City on Ebay
^^ Back to Music, Bands, and Other Creations of Sound