Album Preview Review: Owl City — Cinematic

Eight years and four albums after his breakthrough hit “Fireflies”, Adam Young is about to launch into the next phase of his career. Under his well-known pseudonym Owl City, he’s started a curious type of promotional campaign for his upcoming album Cinematic.

Even though the record won’t be released until June, Young has already posted snippets of the fifteen songs on it. He’s also debuted five complete tracks, four of which are available for download.

Let’s take a closer look at those five songs to get a first taste of Cinematic, shall we?

1. “Fiji Water” (9/10) — [Track 1 on Cinematic]

Owl City’s new album will open with a mid-tempo song that details the beginnings of Adam’s music career. The chorus hooks are pretty solid, but what really makes this track shine are the story-telling qualities of its lyrics.

Adam sings about his very first meeting with a major label, reflecting on what he wishes he’d said back then: “Hey, there is more to me than meets the eye. […] Hey, I’m an oddity, and that’s alright. […] I ain’t a smooth-talker, but thanks for the Fiji water.”

With such well-written lines and upbeat melodies, this is a fitting opening track that makes you curious for the rest of the record.

2. “The 5th Of July” (8/10 )— [Track 2 on Cinematic]

Yes, you read that correctly — 5th of July, not 4th of July. This laid-back ballad is about the day of Adam’s birth, as remembered by his parents. It continues the story-telling approach of “Fiji Water”, but melody-wise it isn’t quite as strong and sweeping.

By the way, the regular album version is much better than the slightly bland acoustic cut that Adam also posted a video for.

3. “All My Friends” (8/10) — [Track 3 on Cinematic]

This track was the first from Cinematic to get a music video. “All My Friends” sounds decidedly less electronic and more, dare we say it, Ed-Sheeran-esque than the previous two songs.

It may take a moment to get used to the sudden change, but then “All My Friends” becomes a pretty irresistable bop with a chorus that’s bound to put you in a good mood. Lyrically, it’s not as strong and interesting as “Fiji Water” and “The 5th Of July”, but the focus here clearly lies on catchiness.

So will “All Your Friends” move you to tears and rethink your life? Definitely not. But will it make you dance around your flat for three and a half minutes? Yep, probably.

4. “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” (5/10) — [Track 5 on Cinematic]

This song was already debuted back in July 2017, but curiously it isn’t yet available as a download.

If you think that the title sounds a little clichéd, brace yourself, because the entire song does. After “Fiji Water”, “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” is a definite step back. While the topic is nice, some lines sound like they were written by a child. Maybe that’s the whole point of it. Who knows?

“All My Friends” isn’t lyrically ingenious, either, but the important thing is that it doesn’t try to be. “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” does try — and fails. So don’t be too sorry you cannot buy this one yet. You’ll do fine without it.

5. “Lucid Dream” (9/10) — [Track 7 on Cinematic]

If there’s a song title that aptly describes Owl City’s music, it’s this one. “Lucid Dream” starts with a slow verse, then builds up over the course of a mid-tempo pre-chorus, and then . . .

BANG!

… it becomes the by far danciest Cinematic track so far. The changes in pace work perfectly and are accompanied by fantastic lines such as “I am a light sleeper but I am a heavy dreamer” and “do you believe sleep is a time machine?”.

Adam said about “Lucid Dream” that he wanted to include it as a nod to his earlier, strangely abstract tracks, given that Cinematic is mostly made up of personal and literal lyrics.

Well, one thing’s for sure: Adam’s pretty good at writing both kinds of songs. If the rest of Cinematic will sound as good as these songs do (with the exception of“Not All Heroes Wear Capes”), then it may just become the best Owl City record yet.