Ultraviolet (EP)

Ultraviolet
EP by Owl City
Released June 27, 2014[1]
Recorded at Sky Harbor Studios, Owatonna, Minnesota
Genre Electropop, EDM
Length 14:20
Label Republic
Producer Adam Young
Owl City chronology

The Midsummer Station - Acoustic EP
(2013)		 Ultraviolet
(2014)
Singles from Ultraviolet
  1. "Beautiful Times"
    Released: April 8, 2014

Ultraviolet is the fourth extended play by American electronica project Owl City, and was released digitally on June 27, 2014, through Republic Records.[1] The EP's lead single, "Beautiful Times", which features violinist Lindsey Stirling was released on April 8, 2014.[2]

Background and release

In early 2014, Young revealed the album artwork for his single, "Beautiful Times", through his Instagram account.[3][4] The song, which was released on April 8, would act as the lead single for Ultraviolet and features music by violinist Lindsey Stirling.[2][5] Following the release of "Beautiful Times", Young stated his intent to release a steady "series of EPs" in 2014 rather than one larger recording, the first of which would be titled "Ultraviolet".[6] On June 5, it was announced that Ultraviolet would be released on June 27.[1][7][8] The album art and track listing, as well as a clip of one of the songs, were released on June 10 as part of a social media marketing campaign to promote the release of the EP.[9]

On June 17, the EP was released for pre-order on iTunes.[1] On June 18, the official audio for "Wolf Bite" was released by Owl City via YouTube.[10] Starting on June 19, through many forms of social media, Young stated the official music video for "Beautiful Times" will be premiering on June 26.[11][12][13][14] On June 25, the day before the premiere, Young posted a preview from the video.[15] The "Beautiful Times" music video debuted the next day, as expected, on Rolling Stone's website.[16] After much anticipation, the EP debuted on June 27, as expected.[1] The same day, the "Beautiful Times" music video also made its debut on YouTube.[17] On release day, Young reported that Ultraviolet had reached No. 2 on the iTunes charts.[18] On July 8, Owl City proceeded to published the official audios for "Up All Night" and "This Isn't The End" via YouTube.[19][20] The EP peaked No. 30 on Billboard 200 chart.[21]

On July 17, after hinting through various social media for a week,[22][23][24] the music video for the song "Wolf Bite" premiered on MetroLyrics.com through Vevo.[25] As announced, the music video for "Wolf Bite" proceeded to debut via YouTube on July 19.[26] On August 1, the music video for "Up All Night" was released. However, like "Wolf Bite", the video serves as a visualizer for the song as Adam Young expressed his interest to create respective visualizers for each song in this EP.[27] On August 29, the music video for "This Isn't The End" was released and serves as the last visualizer for the EP. The video shows of the archive footage of an 8-year old girl with her now-deceased father and simultaneously switches to the present day with a full-grown woman who suffered depression due to the loss of her father. The reason of disappearance was not depicted nor explored on the video. The song and the video received critical acclaim from both new audiences and long time Owl City fans alike.[28]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Adam Young[29]. 

No. Title Length
1. "Beautiful Times" (featuring Lindsey Stirling) 3:25
2. "Up All Night"   3:51
3. "This Isn't the End"   3:24
4. "Wolf Bite"   3:50

Chart history

Chart (2014) Peak
positions
U.S. Billboard 200[30] 30

Music videos

Audio

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Ultraviolet - EP Owl City". itunes.apple.com. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ""Beautiful Times" on iTunes". Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Piece five of the April single album artwork on Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Piece four of the April single album artwork on Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Embark on Owl City's "Beautiful Times"". owlcitymusic.com. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Owl City 2014 EPs". Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Owl City announces ‘Ultraviolet’ EP". Alternative Press. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Owl City To Release ‘Ultraviolet’ EP Later This Month". Under The Gun Review. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Adam Young gives fans preview of Owl City's June EP". Tumblr. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Owl City - "Wolf Bite" (OFFICIAL AUDIO)". YouTube. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Countdown to "Beautiful Times" music video release begins". Facebook. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Countdown to "Beautiful Times" music video release six days away". Facebook. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Countdown to "Beautiful Times" music video release three days away". Facebook. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Countdown to "Beautiful Times" music video release two days away". Facebook. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Clip of "Beautiful Times" music video". Instagram. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Watch Owl City's Whimsical 'Beautiful Times' Video - Premiere". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Owl City - Beautiful Times ft. Lindsey Stirling (Official Music Video)". YouTube. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Ultraviolet #2 on iTunes". @OwlCity Twitter. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Owl City - "Up All Night" (OFFICIAL AUDIO)". YouTube. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Owl City - "This Isn't The End" (OFFICIAL AUDIO)". YouTube. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Owl City". billboard.com.
  22. ↑ "Next Friday the wolves are coming out to play. Who's ready?". Facebook. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Wolf Bite. Soon.". Tumblr. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  24. ↑ "There's a full moon coming....". Instagram. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Owl City Premieres New 'Wolf Bite' Video, Shares Handwritten Lyrics". Metrolyrics.com. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Owl City - Wolf Bite (Official Visualizer)". YouTube. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Owl City - Up All Night (Official Visualizer)". YouTube. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  28. ↑ Owl City - This Isn’t The End (Official Visualizer). YouTube. August 29, 2014.
  29. ↑ "New Music". Tumblr. Retrieved June 24, 2014. I’ve decided 2014 is a solo year for me in studio. Not that I tire of collaborating, quite the contrary....
  30. ↑ "Owl City Billboard 200 chart history". Billboard.com. Retrieved July 23, 2014.