Last time in Seattle, Owl City played at Neumos, a modest sized club on Capitol Hill. On April 1, 2010 Owl City plays The Paramount with special guests Lights and Paper Route.
In the state of Minnesota lies a small town called Owatonna with roughly twenty-two thousand inhabitants. Within that city is a quiet road with a modest house. In that house there’s an unkempt basement with no windows. Within those confines you’ll find Adam Young of Owl City hard at work on his electronic and melodically infectious music of simple and singular beauty. Inside this “cave,” as Adam likes to describe it, he has begun to quickly win over a large audience thirsty for something genuine, something sublime. The proof is in the music as Owl City’s first official CD – Ocean Eyes – was released July 21st, 2009 and debuted at #27 on the Billboard Top 200, #2 on Billboard’s Electronic Albums chart and #3 on the Digital Albums Chart.
Referred to only as his moniker Owl City, Adam Young was an only child in a small town and grew up in a sheltered bubble. He was one of the shy kids in the neighborhood. “I’ve always been the shy guy, I don’t see that changing, but I definitely feel a lot more comfortable than I anticipated. I can hide behind the music.”
On a whim, when his parents were away for the weekend, Adam created his first digital EP in June of 2007 and posted it on MySpace. Incredibly, his music began spreading by word of mouth as he became a phenomenon on MySpace and in just over a year had more than 7 million profile views and 40 million plays; outstanding for such a short span of time. It was clear that Owl City was making a colossal impact on the music scene.
And stardom has come quickly for Adam as he has played sold out shows throughout North America, China and Japan.
Ocean Eyes is capturing the hearts and ears of many. Loaded with amazing loops, catchy pick-ups, and lyrics that soothe the mind and touch the heart, Adam Young has once again created a lush listening experience. Owl City’s trademark desire to escape in dreams, oceans and sky abound on this, his first official CD, in songs such as “Cave In” and “Umbrella Beach.” Adam also continues to display a terrific wit uncommon in most electronic based music in such songs as the clap infused, bouncy “Dental Care” (a humorous metaphor on smiling) and “Fireflies.” Given the official compact disc treatment, previously released fan favorite “Hello Seattle” gives the great Northwest its’ due with an ode to highlands, parking lots, Puget Sound and albatross. With glorious vocal harmonies (“The Saltwater Room”) and touching odes to love lost (“Vanilla Twilight”) Adam has dug more deeply on Ocean Eyes lyrically and musically than ever before.
Back Beat Seattle interviewed him before his last show at Neumos back in May.
Tickets are just $17 and go on sale on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 10am. The show is all ages with general admission on the floor and reserved seating in the Balcony. Don’t miss it!
More details and tickets at www.stgpresents.org
Here is Vanilla Twilight from the album Ocean Eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aENY16Mjw6k
