Owl City’s Cinematic falls fairly short

music mix: album review

Artist: Owl City
Album: Cinematic

Ever since making our ears bleed winning our hearts with his obnoxious whimsical tale of getting a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs, Adam Young has been trying (fairly unsuccessfully) to recapture the magic of his massive global hit. His latest album, Cinematic, continues in search of another irresistible banger but falls fairly short as he treads familiar grounds on this overlong (15 songs plus 3 redundant alternative versions) set.

Like a The Postal Service knockoff for teens, Young continues to make peppy songs that are too earnest for their own good and blissfully oblivious to their own cheesiness, but the personal nature of his subject matter can be disarming. The singer shares stories from his life on Cinematic, writing about topics like getting a record deal at the start of his career (‘Fiji Water’), his birth (‘The 5th Of July’), and his father’s failing health (‘Always’), but his lyrics are often clichéd (as evident by song titles like ‘Not All Heroes Wear Capes’ and ‘Winners Never Quit’) and the overall vibe of the album is too samey.

There are moments in these songs that hold promise – a synth here, a melody there – and at its saccharine best (like the twee-tronic ‘House Wren’ with its twinkling beat and bird sounds, a song that will generate smiles on some faces and grimaces on others), the album gently reminds you that the musician clearly does have talent. But when things go wrong – and they oh-so-massively do on ‘All My Friends’ that confusingly features some ill-advised rapping – you’re left to wonder why that talent isn’t resulting in more impressive music. On the whole, Cinematic may have its oddly charming moments but it is lyrically cheesy and sonically monochromatic, which ultimately means it will please a very narrow audience of loyal Owl City fans.

Highlights: ‘Fiji Water’, ‘House Wren’, ‘Madeline Island’, ‘Cinematic’

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

- Sameen Amer

Instep Today, The News International - 16th June, 2018 *