Concert News

Owl City Announces London Date

• 4th Jul 2012

Owl City, aka Adam Young, has been busy writing his third album. With a UK release announcement imminent, he is thrilled to announce his return to the UK on 7th August with a show at Kings College, London.

When it came time to record Adam Young’s third album as Owl City, the Minnesota native set himself the following challenge: “Over the past several years I'd become fascinated with trying to capture magic in a jar through simple, concise pop songs,” he says. “I saw it as a great challenge to try to come up with catchy, unique, and memorable songs because it was a new method of songwriting I'd never approached before. I believe artists should never look back or repeat themselves and this was a new frontier for me.”

“I made my first two records on my own without any outside help and learned that it’s easy to overthink what you do by allowing yourself to become too emotionally invested in what you're doing,” Young says. “Initially, I was anxious about letting other people co-pilot the solo endeavor I’d always played close to the chest, but it was exhilarating not having 100 percent control over what happened. In the end for me, it's all about trying new things as an artist. Working with other writers taught me to care about a song as a piece of art created to reach people versus worrying about getting the final say or having my own way. Collaborating kills off a lot of ego and pride issues and that’s a really healthy thing.”

“I’m known for creating music based on whimsical ideas and concepts from my own headspace, and another set of parameters I set for myself was to write about things people might relate to better,” he says. “Dementia” documents the “crazy, schizophrenic thoughts and feelings.”

“I grew up listening to dance music and I've always wanted to make a dance record,” Young says. “European dance music has so much influence over pop right now, so it made sense to me. I admire a lot of the great trance DJs of the past ten years, guys like Armin van Buuren, ATB, Above & Beyond, Tiësto, and Ferry Corsten.”

Other tracks follow on the more rock-inspired sounds that Young began to explore on his second album, 2011’s All Things Bright and Beautiful. “Dementia” even features guest vocals by one of Young’s heroes, blink-182’s Mark Hoppus.