A City.... Filled With Owls??

            Would you believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as you fell asleep?  Adam Young the maker of the band Owl City thinks that you would not be able to believe your eyes.  And now humorously, many of you probably have Adam’s hit single “Fireflies” by Owl City floating around in your heads.  J  Adam Young started his musical stylings a few years ago when he lived with his parents at their home in Owantanna, Minnesota.  Young suffered from severe insomnia.  Not being able to sleep, he started to spend his nights in the basement at the computer putting different electronica and other techno-flavorful sounds together.  He eventually started recording his music merely by using his computer and a few keyboards. Once completed, Young uploaded the finished tracks to a Myspace profile.  His debut single of “Hello Seattle” which was released in 2007 received more than six million plays on the web.  Adam’s music was a hit.  He kept his fans happy by releasing a mini album of seven total tracks titled “Of June” after the success of his debut single.  Fans wanted more.  Even though Young was unsigned, that did not stop him from making more music.  In 2008 his album “Maybe I’m Dreaming” came out onto the Myspace scene.  Having two albums topping the Top 20 of the U.S. electronic albums chart brought Adam Young’s creation of Owl City to the attention of musical experts.  Early in 2009, Adam Young was signed to Universal Republic.  He then released his album of “Ocean Eyes” in July of that same year.

            On his new album “Ocean Eyes”, Young sings a duet with Matt Thiessen from the band of Relient K.  This track called “Fireflies” skyrocketed to the top of the charts.  It is also funny if listeners take a closer look at the lyrics to Young’s tracks because a lot of the songs mention him being an “insomniac” and how he “cannot sleep”.  Adam Young takes listeners into a place of their imaginations that they have never gone before.  His lyrics are extremely poetic and are almost as sweet as dreaming.  Owl City became such an overnight sensation that Adam Young has had the privilege of touring around the world.  So, what happened to the quiet kid from Minnesota who cannot sleep?  He is a now a worldwide hit!

This first song that I am going to have you listen to is one of my personal favorites, “Hot Air Balloon”.  This song almost feels like listeners are being placed right alongside Adam Young in one of his imaginative dreams.



            The next song I will introduce you to is called “Tidal Wave”. This song takes listeners along on a journey starting off with a sense of sadness and depression, but then towards the end, things start turning up.  One can also hear Young’s religious feeling in the very end of this song as he sings “…then I was given grace and love, I was blind but now I can see.  ‘Cuz I found a new hope from above, and courage swept over me”.  I hope you enjoy Owl City!