Owl City

Owl City
Owl City in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Adam Randal Young
Born	July 5, 1986 (1986-07-05) (age 24)
Origin	Owatonna, Minnesota, United States
Genres	Synthpop Indietronica Alternative Emo-pop[1][2][3]
Years active	2007 – present
Labels	Universal Republic
Associated acts	Sky Sailing, Lights, Swimming With Dolphins, Breanne Duren, Relient K
Website	www.owlcitymusic.com
Members
Adam Young

Owl City is a Second Wave synthpop musical project by American Adam Young. Young started out making music in his basement in his hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota, US, and later developed a following through his MySpace profile before being signed to Universal Republic.

Young's influences are disco and European electronic music. After two independent albums, Owl City gained mainstream popularity from the 2009 major label debut album Ocean Eyes, which spawned the hit single "Fireflies".

History

Early years (2007–08)

Owl City was started by Adam Young in his parents' basement while he worked at a Coca-Cola warehouse,^[4][5] turning to music as a result of his insomnia.^[6] Young received a lot of attention for songs he had uploaded to MySpace, the "viral popularity" of which would later result in his signing to Universal Republic.^[6][7] In 2007, Owl City released an EP titled Of June, followed by the 2008 release of the album Maybe I'm Dreaming. Of June reached #20 on the Billboard Electronic Albums chart, and Maybe I'm Dreaming peaked on the same chart at #16.^[8]

Owl City's first two records were released while Young was unsigned. In early 2009, music industry website "Crazed Hits" leaked that Owl City signed with the major label Universal Republic.^[9]

Ocean Eyes (2009)

Owl City's third album, Ocean Eyes, was released on iTunes on July 14, 2009, with the physical release following on July 28, 2009. The album debuted at #27 on the Billboard 200. Owl City has released three official singles: "Umbrella Beach", "Vanilla Twilight", and "Fireflies".^[10] "Fireflies" topped the US and Canadian charts and became the most-downloaded song on iTunes in the US. Ocean Eyes reached the top ten on the US album charts and topped the US electronic charts and also reached Amazon MP3's top 10 most downloaded album list. By December 2009, it was certified Gold in the United States. On January 24, 2010, Owl City reached the number 1 spot in the UK Top 40 Singles chart with "Fireflies". The song "Tidal Wave" also received significant airplay on Christian music radio stations.

Young is joined by Breanne Düren on several tracks; the most noted being "The Saltwater Room". Owl City's live band consists of Breanne Duren (background vocals/keyboards), Matthew Decker (drums), Laura Musten (violin), and Hannah Schroeder (cello). He will likely collaborate with Lights in early 2010 on his new tour in the US, Asia, Australia, and Europe.^[11][12]

Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen has toured and collaborated with Owl City on several tracks, including "Fireflies", where Matt can be heard providing the backup vocals. Young also produced Relient K's song "Terminals". Thiessen stated that it is very likely that he and Young will produce a side project called "Goodbye Dubai" in the future.^[13]

"Fireflies" was released as a free download on the iPod/iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge 3 by Tapulous. Prior to the July 14, 2009 internet release of Ocean Eyes, and the "Fireflies" single, Steve Hoover was hired as a director for a music video for "Fireflies". The video was to have had an exclusive premiere on MySpace,^[14] but had been leaked onto YouTube and Dailymotion hours earlier. "Fireflies" became a big sleeper hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for the week ending November 7, 2009.^[15]

Owl City is featured on Soundtrack 90210 with a song titled "Sunburn", which was released on October 13, 2009.^[16] Owl City has toured with The Scene Aesthetic and Brooke Waggoner. He was also guest featured in the soundtrack to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland with a song that had already been featured in his debut album, "The Technicolor Phase".^[17]

On Monday, December 7, 2009, Owl City was shortlisted as one of the 15 acts for the BBC Sound of 2010.

Owl City is currently touring with Lights and Deas Vail. He announced on March 31, 2010, that he would be supporting John Mayer starting on August 18.^[18]

2010

Young has revealed a new musical project known as Sky Sailing, moving away from his usual electronica genre of music and introducing acoustic guitar and piano accompaniments into his work. The unrefined tracks were recorded in the summer of 2007 before he began making music as Owl City.^[19] His first album under this new project is entitled "An Airplane Carried Me To Bed", and was released July 13, 2010 via iTunes.^[20]

He also recently announced via Twitter that more music will soon be released under his main project, Owl City.^[21]

In May, 2010, Adam Young collaborated with high-profile British electronic composer, producer, musician, and songwriter Nick Bracegirdle. Under his Chicane alias, Bracegirdle released the single 'Middledistancerunner' on 1 August 2010 featuring Adam Young on vocals. This will be the first single from the upcoming fourth Chicane album Giants.

He also worked with famed Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, appearing on a track called 'Youtopia' from the forthcoming van Buuren album Mirage on September 10, 2010.

On August 2, 2010, it was announced that a cancellation of the Owl City opening for Maroon 5 due to medical issue (kidney stone) was necessary.^[22]

He also stated on his Twitter, that he will release a song for the upcoming film, Legend of the Guardians, titled "To the Sky" ^[23] which hit the Internet on September 1st. ^[24]

Musical styles and influences

Owl City has been stated to play within the musical genres of indietronica, emo-pop,^[2][25][26] and alternative.^[2] Young has stated that he is inspired by disco and European electronic music.^[27]

Owl City has been compared to The Postal Service, with a number of publications going as far as accusing Owl City of "ripping off" The Postal Service.^[28][29]

Adam Young suggested in a 2009 interview with The New York Times that Owl City is perhaps the "next chapter" after The Postal Service:

[The Postal Service] released a record in 2003, and that was it. There was really nothing to compare it to until some one else came along and wrote the next chapter. Maybe that's this record. Maybe that's this band.

—Adam Young, The New York Times, "From Mom’s Basement to the Top of the Chart"^[30]

Other projects

Young also produces music under a wide variety of other projects, some of which contain only a single song.^[31] These projects include Port Blue, Windsor Airlift, Dolphin Park, Insect Airport, Keehar, Seagull Orchestra, Sky Sailing, and Swimming With Dolphins.

Most of these projects were started before Owl City propelled Young to fame. Some were formed alongside Adam's college friends as musical projects for a music course Young was studying at the time.

Concert tours

Discography

Studio albums

• Of June (2007)
• Maybe I'm Dreaming (2008)
• Ocean Eyes (2009)

References

External links

• Official website
• Owl City at Last.fm