It’s impossible to listen Owl City without drawing comparisons to The Postal Service—albeit ersatz comparisons. With City, the listener is exposed to rose colored synth-pop accompanied by singer Adam Young’s wafer thin warbling voice (à la Ben Gibbard). The most notable difference between the two, however, is that Young, who uses a hint of Auto-Tune, delivers his metrosexually charged lyrical material in a cadence that calls hip-hop to mind. All things considered, if you’re going to rip someone off, there is worse material to mine. But when Young sings lines like “For all my pals in the oceans and the seas, with friends like you who needs anemones?” it’s hard to know whether to laugh at the message or the messenger. That said, there is an infectious quality to the overall production and arraignment of Owl City’s songs—and these days, who can’t use a good dance and a chuckle?
Thu., Oct. 22, 8:30 p.m., 2009
