Hello Seattle, I am an Albatross.

The iTunes free single of the week is a hit-and-miss affair.  The good ones have been great and the bad ones have been deleted from my library halfway through play one.  There’s a band called “Owl City” that a number of my friends have talked about for a while.  I never listened to their music, and never formed an opinion on the band until last week.

My little sister, Hannah Grace, is more of a music junkie than I ever was at 15.  Her favorite bands include Copeland, Eisley, Jason Morant, and Coldplay.  I love all these bands.  At her age I still thought P.O.D. was a good band and U2 was boring.  Hannah tells me the other day, “JD, you need to listen to Owl City.”  I had downloaded “Fireflies” as the free download of the week but had irresponsibly not listened to it yet.  I gave it a whirl once and was not excited, it was cheesy and poppy.  I like cheesy poppy though, so on a second listen I was really enjoying the music.  It made me happy.  I listen to less happy music than sad music.  I need more happy music.

On that thought I bought the rest of the album on iTunes by faith.  All week in my car and in my house, I’ve had it cranked.  This guy, named Adam Young, does all the singing, beat making, and produced the album beside Matt Thessien from Relient K.    It sound really good.  That’s what always gets me about the record.  How is it so full and balanced?  The sound is entirely electric, probably just a collection of clever Logic files.  But combined with great vocals and catchy love song lyrics, occasionally singing God’s praise, the music has got me.  It’s bothersome.  I should not like such cheesy pop music.  I do though.  Postal Service vs. Mae.  I love it.  Listen to “Cave In” or “Umbrella Beach” off the newest album from the band, “Ocean Eyes”.  It’s great.  Thanks that’s all.

You’ve introduced me to the moment, but I’m looking to stay for good.

There was a time in high school where I listened to a band called “Mae” exclusively for like two months.  They had an album just fresh on the market called “Destination Beautiful“, and it really spoke to me in a way my other music at the time didn’t.  Mae was, in part, responsible for my transition from bands like P.O.D. and Skillet into bands like Copeland and Bleach.  An obvious gift from God.

 

However as I matured musically, Mae seemed to decline.  I remember the intro of their second album, as a cheesy voice said “Welcome to the Everglow by Mae”, and I was like, “What? Really?”.  I did later come to love the album, although not nearly as much as Destination Beautiful.  Mae had that romantic indie emoesque thing down with Destination Beautiful, and The Everglow was just a little to poppy and fake for me to fall in love with.  Earlier this year I bought their most recent album, Singularity.  I’ve listened to it once through.  It’s just not good.  But many times a month I will find myself reclining and listening again to “Giving It Away” or “All Deliberate Speed” from the first album, and letting myself drift back into my love affair with Mae.  It’s heart-warming for me.

 

All this leads up to me saying that my room mate Phil’s sister, Brooke Waggoner, is going on tour with them this winter.  I’m really excited.  Her music will blow Mae’s out of the water, but for her this is still amazing publicity because somehow Mae has remained really popular!  The closest show to us will be in Arizona as of now, but we’re pushing the tour managers for a show in Fort Collins.  That would be neat.