Review Summary: Imagine any made-for-radio-pop song right now, then put Owl City's name on it. Boom, you have this EP.
Being a big Owl City fan, I pine for whenever new music is released by him. Adam Young (the sole member of Owl City) pulls me into another world that always seems to dazzle me, so when I heard an EP showcasing tracks from his 4th studio album The Midsummer Station was being released I was ecstatic! As soon as it was released, I downloaded it, put my headphones on and listened and expected the abstract lyrics about reality and mysteries of life that I loved. What I found wasn't that at all, albeit Dementia perhaps. Let's go through the songs since there are only 4.
Shooting Star starts off with fuzzy synth sounds that Owl City is known for, but quickly becomes a weird version of Katy Perry's Firework talking about how you'll "shine brighter than a shooting star." The title of an Owl City song called Shooting Star would be dreamy and space-y right? Maybe it's because every song on here except for Dementia was written with other people instead of the usual approach of Adam Young doing everything himself with occasional help from Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen. Shooting Star was written by Adam Young and 4 others, Gold wasn't even written by Young, and Take It All Away was written with 2 others.
Okay so now let's move onto the rest of the EP and we hope it'll top Shooting Star perhaps. Gold is cookie-cutter pop and dwells in lyrics about telling some that "what [they've] got is gold." So 2 tracks given to us that us radio-friendly pop music with lyrics basically about the same thing, hopefully Dementia is better, and it is. It's guitar led, which isn't normal for Owl City, but the lyrics are a big step-up from what we've been presented and the vocals Mark Hoppus adds to the track are great with the heavy guitars (for Owl City at least). The lyrics aren't exactly abstract like usual, but they still are better than the Shooting Star and Gold. This is by far the best song off of the EP.
And Take It All Away, while somewhat catchy, is a stereotypical song about someone breaking up with someone and taking away the love. It's a pretty song, stereotypical pop, but pretty.
If this EP presents some of the best tracks off of The Midsummer Station, then we're in for a bumpy ride.
Owl City - Shooting Star (EP) 2.5/5