Review Summary: This album does seem better than its predecessor, even though it isn't. But why? Maybe I’ve become so used to Owl City’s music that there’s nothing new or shocking about just how bad it is.
I was actually looking forward to this album, if only to give it a scathing review. Since I first discovered Adam Young’s music in 2009, shortly before the single “Fireflies” and album Ocean Eyes became massive sleeper hits, I have felt an intense dislike and disgust for Young’s music and aesthetic. Though this was only exacerbated after a listen to Young’s latest release All Things Bright and Beautiful, I have found myself actually incapable of writing the historic trash piece I expected to drop on this album. This album, though it is no less abysmal than Ocean Eyes, does seem better than its predecessor. But why? Is it because I’ve heard it all before? Is it because All Things Bright And Beautiful is actually more mediocre than awful, though it is both? Or maybe I’ve become so used to Owl City’s music that there’s nothing new or shocking about just how bad it is?
One key reason may be its stylistic diversity. While the tracks on Ocean Eyes stuck to one stylistic formula (monophonic synths, overpronounced vocals, mock-IDM beats--in other words the Postal Service on Prozac), Young explores a number of different genres on All Things. “Honey and the Bee” flirts with country; “Alligator Sky” is a bizarre foray into B.o.B-style cuddle rap; “Deer in the Headlights” is almost arena rock; “Galaxies” is an almost queer-sounding club-pop tune. Unsurprisingly (and sadistically satisfyingly), all these attempts at stylistic exploration fall flat on their faces. “Alligator Sky,” which has rapper Shawn Chrystopher rattling off verses as vapid as Young’s lyrics, is particularly insufferable (worst second and a half: the part of the chorus where Chrystopher intones “in-the-al-li-ga-tor-sky” in the background).
Another key difference between the two albums is its scale. While Ocean Eyes solidly felt like the work of one person recording in some empty basement somewhere in Middle America, All Things sounds like it just could be the work of a collective of musicians. Though the minimalism of Ocean Eyes carries over on some songs (“The Real World,” which will likely be this album’s hit due to its similarity to “Fireflies”), songs like “Deer in the Headlights” or “Plant Life” simply feel too grand to be the product of one insomniac’s brain. Perhaps the large scale of the music serves to distract the listener somewhat from Young’s lyrics, which are as mindlessly vapid and painfully nonsensical as ever but are no longer front and center.
Yet perhaps the main thing that makes All Things seem so much better than Ocean Eyes is the fact that it is, indeed, the new Owl City album. A little-known fact about Owl City is that it is only one of several dozen projects in which Young is evolved, each one with its own name and clear-cut sound. If Young wanted to make anything drastically different or better than the four albums he has cut under this particular name (which happened to get the most attention), he would likely release it under a different moniker. Who knows, he may be releasing a masterpiece under another name as we speak. But Owl City is the project that sells hundreds of thousands of records, had a hit single, and is being followed by millions and millions. It is thus the one we will stick with for however long, and Young will likely continue to make records of the same abysmal quality as his previous ones. By his next album, just how atrocious this music is may not seem so shocking anymore. When will we get used to it? Probably never.
