Ocean Eyes [CD]

Ocean Eyes follows hot on the heels of "Fireflies", a sparkling piece of emo-tinged electronic pop that made Adam Young, a bedroom musician from small-town Minnesota, a chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic. Critics have noted the similarities of Owl City to past introspective electronica outfits such as Sub Pop signees The Postal Service, but Ocean Eyes is plainly a brighter, more populist spin on the sound, with colourful melodies, vocals tinted with autotune, and emotions writ large.

Yes, it's sentimental stuff-–lyrically, the sort of literate-but-neurotic fare that sounds as informed by the dialogue of articulate indie flicks like 500 Days Of Summer than traditional pop songwriting. "I’ve been to the dentists' a thousand times so I know the drill" quips Young on "Dental Care", a song inevitably less about deep-canal work than matters of the heart. Those with harder hearts may find the overall effect a little saccharine, but it’s inescapable that Owl City has the ear for a tune that can really weevil its way into your memory-–hear how the likes of "Cave In" and "Hello Seattle" recall "Fireflies" in their blend of yearning emotion and crisp, sing-along hooks. --Louis Pattison

As any busker will tell you, a one-man-band is a dangerous thing to be. Unless you’re the kind of natural genius who can play every instrument to a standard higher than your average session musician, there is always the chance the music you make will be less than the sum of your parts.

Adam Young, for all that he is highly skilled with his recording equipment, occasionally sounds like a man who needs an editor: someone to pull his best ideas together, weed out the silly bits and help finish his songs off properly.

It’s understandable that his music has ended up as unfocussed as it is, given that he only started working on Owl City material as a way to tackle a nasty bout of insomnia. His songs are riddled with rhyming couplets which could only make sense at 4am, or have melodies which snoozily refuse to wander too far from their nice comfy root. They all strike the same tone too:  it’s late, my eyelids are drooping, and I’m thinking mad thoughts.

The wooziness is reflected in Adam’s voice, which is whisper-soft, quiet and nasal, like a man whose parents sleep lightly and have to get up early for work.

All of which makes Ocean Eyes a frustrating listen, or an enchanting one, depending on your stomach for meadow-skipping whimsy. There’s no denying that Adam can create a pretty picture. On The Wing, for example, is a valiant mix of undulating strings, ticker-tape percussion and sparkling glockenspiel which is begging for a quirky cartoon to soundtrack.

On the other hand, Dental Care is a string of observations about a trip to the dentist. It’s not even a metaphorical or magical dentist: just a dentist.

Ultimately, it’s unfair to examine Owl City’s music too rigorously. Adam Young’s muse comes from timeless, ageless, weightless places, like the Hundred Acre Wood, or Mole and Ratty’s riverbank. The fact that Winnie the Pooh could – and did – write better lyrics is neither here nor there.  Not everyone has a Christopher Robin to come and save them from themselves. --Fraser McAlpine

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Ocean Eyes is the self-produced breakthrough album from synth-pop songwriter Adam Young's Owl City project. The album features the massive single "Fireflies", which hit number one on the Billboard Chart, becoming the fastest-selling electronic/alternative track of all time, before peaking at number one in the UK chart.

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