Reviewed by Stephan Robinson

It's been just four years since Minnesota's Adam Young went from recording songs in his parents' basement to his current position of international acclaim as pop sensation Owl City. In that time his synth pop music has had incredible success with his previous album 'Ocean Eyes' selling four million copies. While this album is unlikely to break such a high mark, it isn't a disappointment. In a recent interview Adam Young said that he used less auto-tune on his vocals in this latest release but there is still enough of it to create a similar sound to 'Ocean Eyes'. The music is much the same as before and still just as enjoyable. The album opens well with digital/synth feeling "The Real World" before going to "Deer In The Headlights" which is a rather funny love song ("Her pepper spray made it rather hard for me to walk her home") the quick drum beats and tune sound particularly good in a pair of headphones or stereo speakers. "Angels" comes next with a pleasant light and fluffy feel both with the tunes and pleasant lyrics concerning the unseen friends around us. Now, while Owl City is a mainstream hitmaker he has always been open about his firm Christian faith and it comes out in his music. Obviously in "Angels" faintly, but the song "Galaxies" is openly faith orientated with lines like "Dear God I was terribly lost/When the galaxies crossed/And the sun went dark/But Dear God You're the only North Star I would follow this far" and "He is the saving grace of the galaxies". The track works as a memorable highlight of the album due to both the Christian message and the catchy flying-through-space feel music that sticks in the mind as being a reminder that Owl City really is a top rate talent, despite what some of the trendier critics say.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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