Owl City "Cinematic" Album Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

People often seem to prefer a bit of realism in their music. It's what connects us as humans. We like hearing about other people's struggles, because it's honest, and it can be relatable. At least, that is the case for a  majority of the time. But, there is also a time where music can be escapist: it can be a bit more imaginative, perhaps more idealist rather than realistic about the world in which we inhabit. Owl City, also known as the electronic/synthpop project of Adam Young, is practically the embodiment of escapist music. Adam's first few albums, from "Maybe I'm Dreaming" to "All Things Bright and Beautiful" create very different worlds from our own, and they have a highly ethereal feeling to them. This is what makes his music work on those releases; that along with his lush musical soundscape and beautifully written visual imagery. I like Adam as a person, so it's hard to be critical of him. But, I've been questioning his choice in sound ever since his release of "The Midsummer Station". While that album in itself isn't awful, there's still some bad moments on it, and it had some worrisome telling signs of what was to come on the embarrassingly bad "Mobile Orchestra". That album was such a mess, with only maybe one song making a good impact. While Adam's newest (now independent) album "Cinematic" is an improvement over the former and has some legitimately good content, it still has a lot that is either boring or straight up awful in quality.

What makes the bad parts of this album so particularly frustrating on this album is that there are moments in this release that are legitimate bright spots. Just take a look at the opening track "Fiji Water", certainly one of the shining moments of this release. The synth line just screams classic Owl City, and Adam tells a story about the first time he got recruited on by a record label. This song sort of feels like it's meant to be the main point of the album, which is Adam telling his critics and doubtful fans that no one should count him out. I like the message; it is at least inspirational and genuine. I just wish the message actually paid off. I also rather enjoy "The 5th of July", where Adam tells a story of the day his parents gave birth to him, and also his appreciation for their loving commitment to him. "Lucid Dream" is filled with great electronic work; the chorus of this song is very fun and easy to sing along to. I could see this song doing well on pop charts if given the chance, and Adam sounds natural against this soundscape. "Always" is legitimately touching in Adam's depiction of angels being over his father as he passed away. I love how affectionate he is in this song, and how he shows that his faith has not been weakened. The best track on the album comes in "Be Brave", which is musically compelling. It surprised me to hear this song use actual guitar work, with those guitars exploding at the end of the song. This track is unique in context of Adam's whole discography. I also think this song works well as a love song for Adam's girlfriend. Its usage of strings and the bombastic instrumentation give this song the powerful weight it needs to work. I wish there were more songs like this one on the album, because it would be so much better. A legitimate smile crossed my face when I heard "New York City", which is the closest on this album you get to Owl City's original sound. You even have Young's signature "dadada"s on the track.

It's not good when you only have six tracks out of fifteen that work on your album. Most of the bad tracks on this album are bad in a cringeworthy way. They're memorable for all the wrong reasons. We get bad content pretty quickly with the third track and lead single "All My Friends". It makes no sense to me why this song was the lead single, or why Adam chose to make a song like this at all. Did he not learn with "Back Home" on "Mobile Orchestra" that his attempts at doing country/pop are embarrassingly awful? Apparently he didn't, as he painfully tries to do the country style here again. The verses are some of the most painful things I've heard this year, with him trying to do a rap quality to his voice while also trying to make it have a country drawl. He also says "aw shucks" repeatedly in this song. Needless to say, the combination of those elements doesn't work. At all. There's also background voices chanting along with him. It sounds like it's meant to be a campfire sing along, and in the least charming way possible. This song has some awful lyrics in it, and is probably one of my least favorite songs of the year. While there aren't any other tracks that quite compare to the outright awfulness of that one, there's still not much good to commend either. "House Wren" uses birds as symbolism for freedom, as if we haven't heard that a million times before. Plus the repetition of whistling in this song becomes annoying very quickly. I hate when songs use sound effects as their main source for a hook. "Montana" just feels more like a commercial for the state it's in. It feels like background music that you would hear rather than a legitimate song. It's lazy, and the attempt to frame it in a story narrative comes across as forced.

I don't necessarily find "Cloud Nine" to be musically offensive or anything, but my goodness are the lyrics express some of the most outlandishly cheerful sentiments ever: "Look up when the world gets you down/And you're gonna get by/Hang in when the world counts you out/And you're gonna be fine". Songs that are this happy-go-lucky feel artificial, even if that may not be Adam's intent. What worked about his bright atmospheres and optimism before was that it felt earned. In a song like this with overly simplistic lyrics, they just don't. Somehow, even more generic and straight up bad lyrics appear in "Winners Never Quit". When I saw the title of this song alone, I knew I wouldn't like it, and surprise, I don't. It's about as typical of a pump up song as you can get. Nothing about this song stands out, from the typical musical cliches of pop to lyrics which hammer out some very basic pump up phrases. "Madeline Island" was the point where I started to lose some hope for this album. This is yet another song with Adam telling a story about his family. Now, as a writer, I like stories. And there are a couple story-based songs on this album that work, like I mentioned before. But, there are just way too many of them here. I don't really care to hear about a random vacation that Adam took with his family in a whole 3-minute song structure. The story isn't that interesting for one, and for two, musically it's uninspired synthpop. The ending moments of this album are about as bad as the rest of the weak moments on this release. "Firebird" is yet another song based around a story structure, and once again the story of two brothers having to reconcile with one another just isn't that interesting. The album ends on the title track, which has this laughable line: "Your worst critics are sitting up front/And they're giving you two thumbs way, way up". Was this album made for children? I wondered that quite a bit throughout this release, with its super simplistic lyrics and musicality. The title track leaves no lasting impression, besides me thinking that instrumentally it's a little all over the place. It tries to incorporate synths, strings, guitars, electronics, drums, and more. It's just all too much, and ironically that much being thrown at you makes the song lack what Adam thinks is cinematic.
 
I really wish I liked more of this album. I used to not be a big fan of Owl City (in fact I initially hated Adam's music) when I heard "Fireflies" repeatedly. I'm still not a big fan of that song, but I came around big time on the rest of Owl City's work after being open minded and giving it a fair listen. I consider "All Things Bright and Beautiful" to be one of the best synthpop albums out there. I can even forgive some of the more generic moments of "The Midsummer Station". But an album like "Cinematic" just disappoints me. Like other groups who I've given negative reviews to this year, I know that Adam has talent. It just seems like he is only using it in brief shining moments. When you hear great material on this release like "Be Brave" or "Lucid Dream", it can be disheartening for that to be starkly contrasted with awful content like "All My Friends" or "Winners Never Quit". I really hope that Adam finds his footing and capitalizes on the promising material he gave us on this release. But for now, I'm just left underwhelmed in what is unfortunately not that great of an album.

Favorite Songs: "Be Brave", "Lucid Dream", "New York City", "Fiji Water"
Least Favorite Songs: "All My Friends", "Winners Never Quit", "Cloud Nine", "Firebird", "Montana", "Madeline Island"