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Sweet dreams, my pet

By Nick Schwab

"All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream," said the great Edgar Allan Poe. To Owl City's dream weaver, Adam Young, this state is a reality. Said to be inflicted with insomnia since his teens, Young explained that aside from a desire to create, he delved into music partially out of boredom, as it was something to keep him busy and active. "The middle of the night is when ideas rush over me without warning," Young said. "I find I become most inspired during those moments in life when I'm totally alone."

A sense of wandering around an ocean setting is also apparent in his work, which falls under the emo-pop genre, with a glitter of electronic soundscapes. Owl City's music is indeed sleepy sounding, but not in an REM sort of way. Rather, it is in the sensibility of a daydream. However, it also reminds one of another atmosphere entirely.

His newest album, titled "Ocean Eyes," appropriately gives off the feeling of a sunset rising above calm waves. With its quiet serenity, one pictures himself/herself on beachfront property, or even in a mermaid's enchanted castle on the ocean bed. "The two words put together really create the specific mood I was after," he described, then expanded about that setting specifically.

"I have a fascination with the ocean and I'm a total dreamer," said Young. "Growing up in the Midwest, I've spent a lot of hours daydreaming about places I've never been, as if the back of my eyelids were silver screens and I was the projectionist, with a thousand movies all cued up and ready to roll." Young's vision, however, does not stop there. Then speaking of the very setting that he imagined, he described it as almost like a soundtrack for an old video game.

"There's a game entitled "Wave Race" for Nintendo 64 and it's incredible," he said. "Everything about it is inspiring." What in particular about a video game is so enchanting, you ask?

"It's the nerdiest thing imaginable, but I really wish I lived in this level called Dolphin Park, featured in that game," said Young. "The aesthetic/mood/feel looks like the way I want Owl City to sound. Tasty."

Listening to Owl City, the themes are sometimes apparent, but usually the bigger picture is not clear. When listening to the song titled, "I'll Meet You There" off his early album "Maybe I'm Dreaming," you might think it is about loving someone who might not feel the same way, and possibly that same person does not love themselves. Young wanted this mystery to remain.

"I love the idea of abstract lyrics and alluding to certain feelings and emotions via metaphors," he explained. "I like the idea of an artist being the only one who really knows what a song might mean, and let the listener takes what he or she needs from it." Young also believes in keeping his artistic vision unrestricted by others.

"I try to stay away from reading criticism, no matter how positive or constructive, because I think not knowing truly preserves my artistic integrity," explained Young. This comment on music's place in his life is demonstrative more as he speaks of what the art form means in his life. "I shudder to think where I would be without it," Young stated.

So, like a vagrant soul out of a Poe story finding comfort in an ocean view, Young concluded, "A lot of people tell me listening to Owl City makes them feel happy." He then admirably added, "And who doesn't like to feel happy?"

Owl City will play at The LC Pavillion on Thursday, Jan. 28 with Lights. For more information, please visit www.promowestlive.com.

Originally Published: January 27, 2010

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