Ocean Eyes

Yeah ok, the lyrics are sappy, so what? They go with the music which projects Adam Young's feelings that he's always wanted to convey through music. He just goes into his head and produces this optimistic sound that no other artist has ventured into in quite the same way. "Fireflies" gave him commercial success but it's not a one song album that's for sure.There's great piano, synth and guitar work to admire here along with nicely placed electronic effects. I won't go into to detail about the songs because I think that's a journey you've got to take yourself in your own way but I'll mark out my favourites and the ones I don't think are quite as good, but I'm just one fan out of many of course.The bonus disc makes the difference here as I believe it has one of the best Owl City songs ever made; the "Hello Seattle" remix. Once you take the chords of that song, take out all of the weird auto tuned lyrics just leaving "Hello Seattle" and make it bouncy it's an amazing transformation. I'm not trying to put Adam's lyric writing down here because it can be very good, but on certain songs I find myself listening to the music above the lyrics. "Hot Air Balloon" is another nice tune and "Sunburn" makes it a nice top 3 of the bonus songs. Apart from that the other four songs aren't much to get excited about on the bonus disc.As a physical album it's very nice - folds out with nice artwork like a "Deluxe Edition" should.Overall? Well as Adam Young said about "All Things Bright and Beautiful", the follow-up to "Ocean Eyes", "It feels a lot more finished than the last one was". So I'd agree with that, this is a good album not to be taken too seriously but it feels a bit unfinished with a few loose ends shall we say.Favourites:Hello Seattle (Remix) - Bonus DiscCave InOn the WingSongs I skip over:The Bird and the WormHello SeattleThose songs I mentioned on the bonus disc

I'm an EDM fan in general, I listen to dubstep, I like the occasional deep beat and grinding bass. Why would I listen to this? Simply, its one of the most lyrically and sonically inventive EDM and Pop albums you'll ever listen to.I won't talk about Fireflies (which is what Adam Young is most associated with, its on this album), the songs here are as equally good and still have that catchy hook. The album has a brilliant opener (Cave In) which features Young's twisting take on EDM (the time changes are effective, and still leave an impression) and the tracks become more varied from there (The Saltwater Room, Vanilla Twilight and The bird and the worm aren't exactly EDM)Its not hard to see why this is his most popular album.My criticism of the album is that lyrically it can be twee (he's not an artist most people admit to listening to). Definitely filed under guilty pleasure. And those who don't like auto-tune, you won't like this either.For those who like this, I can recommend the "Of June" EP (the first three tracks are simply mesmerising) and "All Things Bright and Beautiful"....

It often raises some eyebrows when I tell people I'm an Owl City fan, since I'm typically into older, traditional music, but it only takes a listen of Ocean Eyes to understand why I love it. You can say anything you want about Adam Young's music, including his serial use of autotuning, but every single track on this album is an absolutely perfect version of what it is. Before buying the album, I listened to it loads, and I haven't stopped listening to it since I bought it (it's great for on my MP3 player walking to college in the morning). The thing about Owl City's music is that it isn't just music, it's an atmosphere that you hear. Just listening to it puts you in a better mood, its so upbeat, which is rare in a society obsessed with life's problems. As Adam Young himself said, 'Owl City is not a place, it's a state of mind'. I, personally, cannot get enough of it. Even if you don't normally go for this kind of modern stuff, do yourself a favour and give the album ago. You won't regret it.

I absolutely love this album. The only song from it I ever heard was "Fireflies" but never knew who sang it until earlier this week. I looked the artist up on amazon.co.uk and found the album. I received it today and already have listened to it 3 times. First of all, this is probably the best thing to come out of America in a long time. It's brilliant. The man's voice is very different. The music itself it quite different and I can see why Fireflies made it to the Number 1 spot on Billboard. I like the combination of dance, electronica, and rock that makes up this album. Owl City is a brilliant singer and songwriter. I'm going to have to check out some of his other works. They have to be as good as Ocean Eyes. I just can't get enough of this CD and most likely will have listened to it a few more times before I go to bed tonight.

This album is a true gem in the now lost music industry and having it on vinyl is simply fantastic. Crisp crystalline sound, great packaging and the twelve outstanding songs... only gripe I have with it is one song I simply cannot stand: Dental Care. So stupid, so stupid, so stupid. This album has awesome bonus tracks (seven in total if I remember right) only available on the US, but I'm reminded of one available to the whole world which is better than some songs in this album, and so it should have replaced Dental Care: If My Heart Was a House. Other than that, I don't realy have anything to point. The Saltwater Room had a strange scratch though, like a piece of tissue imbedded on the LP, but it doesn't matter because it doesn't interfere with the track itself.