Owl City - Mobile Orchestra

Owl City
Mobile Orchestra
2015

Like it or not Adam Young (otherwise known as Owl City) has had a style and take on modern pop music all his own. He has never been scared to embrace the light and bright side of things making his music distinct in it's lack of darkness. There is a hope and a joy in Young's music that we often don't celebrate because it's not cool and dark, but that's bullshit, the world is full of just as much joy as it is sadness and celebrating that shouldn't detract from one or the other. Now to the record Mobile Orchestra Owl City's fifth is their most genre hoping to date with collaborators from country to EDM and back again. "My Everything" is actually a christian type praise song which to the casual listener can be a bit jarring. This album more than anything is Young throwing everything He can at the wall and seeing what sticks. Getting away from the criticism He has always heard that he is just a lighter Poppier Postal Service knockoff Owl City tries some new things on this record and really does try to explore.

However that exploration doesn't always mean great songs. Many of tracks here just miss the mark with super sugary lyrics, "Unbelievable" is a straight 90s nostalgia track with references to every toy, game and cartoon from the decade. It also doesn't really help that Hansen are also included on the track. "Unbelievable" is the definition of a pandering track, it really has no point of view other than "the 90s were awesome" but a track like "Verge" and "Bird With a Broken Wing" have something to say and actually go somewhere. All at once there is quite a bit of good and quite a bit of bad on this album and it seems to skip track to track. The track with Jake Owen "Back Home" is so confused whether it is a country track or Pop song that it never comes together even slightly, it is hands down the worst track on the album no question and then is followed by one of the best "Can't Live Without You". It's for this that it is difficult to give Mobile Orchestra a positive rating, it is right down the middle not for Owl City but just in general. Not their best effort, but perhaps a sign of a change coming on the horizon for Owl City. We'll see.

5 out of 10