Owl City's Ocean Eyes is a pretty disappointing record

71 degrees with ceiling tiles overhead and very little ambient light... ok, so I am not writing this after walking O Malley. Rather I'm on my lunch break at work. I had planned to walk the dog and then blog tonight but I'm not sure I want to listen to this album again right away.

After first hearing the single "Fireflies" on the radio months ago, I thought I had better check out the album Ocean Eyes. It was my type of song, a bit whimsical with a good melody and chorus. I reserved it from the library but was number 384 on the waiting list (no exaggeration)! So Lisa just barely picked it up on Tuesday, along with a bunch of children's dinosaur books for Sadie. We have to refresh them on a weekly basis or else we'd go insane reading her the same things over and over. By the end of the week, Lisa can read Sadie the books with her eyes closed (again, not an exaggeration).

Here's my beef with the album: The single got my expectations up and the rest of the album just doesn't compare. Sure, the whimsy reappears in a few other songs like "The Saltwater Room," but it all ends up sounding like it's been done before. "Dental Care" sounds like recent Fountains of Wayne, "Umbrella Beach" like Keane, and the rest of it like Postal Service. In fact "The Saltwater Room" seems to totally rip off Postal Service's "Nothing Better" except with less interesting lyrics.

The "Fireflies" single and the band on paper seem similar to bands I really like like Postal Service, Phoenix, and Imogen Heap. But where these bands have interesting singers (Ben Gibbard is one of family's favorites - even Sadie digs him), Owl City's singer seems electronic and emotionless. This works alright for the whimsical songs, but most of the song lyrics try to sound personal and that just doesn't come across. It sounds like Timbaland already remixed his voice. Then again, maybe that was the goal and I'm just comparing him to the wrong styles. In any case, it was disappointing.

Pick up "Fireflies" and "The Saltwater Room" if you do the iTunes thing, but if you are old school like me and judge a band based on their albums rather than singles, skip it.

Imogen Heap - Ellipse

25 degrees and clear; cold but in my puffy jacket and brown stocking cap, I was doing fine

I am a bit of a choir boy. I started out at Cedar Heights Junior High, and then sang my way through another junior high and two high schools. I even did a zero hour jazz choir class my senior year. Maybe that's why I have found myself drawn to bands with singers that use their voices as instruments. Bands like the Beach Boys and mid to late career Beatles. Another contemporary favorite is Nada Surf. A lot of good bands seem to use their voice as a means to get a message accross and the accompinament as a way to make it sound good. Voice driven bands are different. The music may be great, the lyrics may be poetic or striking, but what sets them apart are that the singers really add to the melodies. I find myself humming to the singer's melody lines as much as the guitarist's.

My brother-in-law introduced Lisa and I to Imogen Heap a few years ago. But it wasn't until this walk that I really realized why I liked her music so much, the melodies she sings and her voice makes this music beautiful. Here's a song from her latest album, Ellipse:



Sorry if this post seems disjointed. Lost was on TV. I love this show. Claire has gone crazy!

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

33 degrees with not a bit of snow anywhere on the sidewalks of our route

I guess my opinion is swayed by popularity. Case in point: Phoenix. A friend recommended them to me a few months ago and even let me borrow their latest CD. I gave it a quick listen while I was working away and promptly forgot about it. Even though I noticed it a couple of times in the following weeks sitting on my thumb drive and saw the album advertised in Best Buy, FYE, and Graywhale ads, it didn't get another spin until today. Apparently it won a Grammy for best alternative album this last weekend. I figured that earned it another listen during Malley's walk.

I liked it. Really liked it. It struck me as one of those albums that you pop in if you want to cheer up a bit. Check out the single:



Fun huh? Sometimes on our walks, I listen to a playlist of my favorite songs on shuffle. It is up to 173 songs so it is always a surprise what ends up playing. The other day, on the final stretch towards home, a song started up that made me actually smile. And I never do that on our walks (I try to look tough so I don't get mugged). Kicked It In The Sun by Built To Spill:



Ok, so I couldn't find that song anywhere that would let me embed so I picked a different Built To Spill song. Still good.