Dear friend,
If Adam Young and I were close, personal friends, I would feel compelled to take him out for coffee one afternoon and ask him if everything was all right. Why would I want to do this, you ask? Well, it's his recent songs.

Today, Owl City released an EP called Ultraviolet. Being the ever so loyal fan that I am, I downloaded that EP today. This entry won't be so much a review of the music, as simply a few observations that I made upon listening to it.

1. Beautiful Times
This track has been out for quite a while. (I don't remember the day it was released, I just know it has been long enough for me to have played it 30 times before today.) If you listen to the lyrics of Beautiful Times, it seems, on the surface, to be a hopeful song. I suppose he means it to be hopeful, but the melancholy over all of it pulls some of that hope down, in my opinion.

When did the sky turn black?
And when will the light come back?

These lines are repeated throughout the song.

 I fought all through the night
Oh, oh, but I made it alive
The sun's starting to rise
Oh, oh, these are beautiful times

The chorus is about struggle leading to the morning, when, supposedly the difficulty is over. But still, the focus is on the struggle. Still, it is an attempt at saying life is still worth the effort.

2.Up All Night
This song seems to be about losing support, support that might not even have been there at all.

I fell in love with a ghost
Out under the moonlight
You took my hand, held me close
For once I was all right

 This opening seems fine, but it changes as you listen on.

Held down like an angel with no wings
I wanna fly again
I just can't get you off my mind
Now I'm gonna be up all night
...
I swear I could feel you in my arms
But there was no one there at all

The strangest thing about this song to me is how similar the themes are to his old songs. He sings about angels, flying and waterfalls and it seems like vague references to the songs he wrote on the All Things Bright and Beautiful album. My overall feeling while listening to ATBAB was one of hope, true, joyful hope. So far, any hopeful feeling these songs are giving me is begrudging.

3. This Isn't the End
Before I even start talking about the lyrics of this song, I'd like to talk about my initial reaction. I felt depressed the instant this song started. It is just such a helpless, sad beginning. I nearly hit skip by the end of his first sentence. I was truly dreading listening to it again, in order to write a review of it.
Then, I listened again, in order to make my opinion, and I felt much better about the subject matter. It's a sad story, but it is a story, and could possibly be, and probably is, a true one.
The subject of this song is a girl whose father commits suicide. It's a sad song.

She tried to look happy in front of her friends
But knew that she'd never feel normal again
She fought back the tears as she filled her eyes
And wanted him back
Just to tell him goodbye.

This is the sort of song you listen to when you need a good cry. It may not match whatever situation or loss you're feeling exactly, but it matches the feeling.

And over the years though the pain was real
She finally forgave him and started to heal

But that right there is why, though I think this is the saddest song on the album, I also think it may be the best and most important, lyrically. Forgiveness is necessary to healing from the hurts that others cause you. Forgiveness isn't for the person who was wrong. It is for you, letting go, giving it to God, and moving on is how you recover.

It's all too astounding to comprehend
It's just the beginning
This isn't the end

4. Wolf Bite
If I were to play any of these songs as background music throughout my day, just some noise as I do chores or run errands, it would be Wolf Bite. But that doesn't mean that the lyrics don't matter. For all of my favorite songs, the lyrics matter. These, though perhaps less noticeably than the previous three, seem depressed and a little doubtful to me.

I wanna get my life right
Will you show me the way?

The overall theme seems to be repeated worry. Another nightmare, another wolf bite, familiar territory that isn't comfortable despite it's familiarity.
In the darkest night

When I need your light
Will you show me the way?

I wonder, slightly, if I would have this issue with the song's lyrics if I didn't know Adam is a professing Christian. He's recorded worship music, he's quoted scripture, he's made no secret of his faith. But in these lyrics, he doesn't seem faithful. Let me be clear, I am not questioning his belief, I am not saying Christians never experience doubt. I am saying, that asking if your source of light will show up when you need them isn't a very faith-filled question.

It's another nightmare
I swear there's something out there
So save me 'cause I'm so scared
Will you show me the way

This repeated question is just full of doubt that the person he relies on will care for him.

It's another werewolf
All dressed up in sheep's wool
And changing when the moon is full
Will you show me the way?

These lines grabbed me. There are so many influences in life that can seem to be right, to be what you're supposed to do, supposed to listen to, and it is a real concern that in the end it will turn out to be wrong. It won't be right, it won't be what you were supposed to listen to.
I might have liked the song lyrics more if in the final chorus he had changed slightly to faith that his support, his way, his light, would be there for him. It wouldn't take much to switch the words "Will you" around, so that instead of a question, it is a statement of belief. But, hey, I didn't write the song. (I may choose to sing it that way to myself, when I sing along, though.)

So, yes, this wasn't a review. Maybe these songs will grow on me. Maybe I'll see the underlying hopeful message more clearly in time. Hopefully, if he needs it, someone will sit down for a cup of coffee with Adam, and he'll get to talking things out.
If I need something more cheerful, I'll listen to some older Owl City. I don't regret buying the EP, and I'm pleased to say the music behind the lyrics is a bit of a return to the sound I liked so much in ATBAB and Ocean Eyes. Things change. People grow up. But we shouldn't lose our hope.

Dear Friend,
Oh, dear. I had every intention in the world of writing up a "real" post tonight, and I was considering the topic of either a specific pet peeve of recent fiction, but I didn't plan well enough to feel that I can write it tonight.
So, we'll have that to look forward to later, won't we?
But, I still want to talk about something, just to get back into blogging, so let's see what comes to mind as I type, shall we?

I've been reminded that I have a weakness for odd characters who solve mysteries. If this odd character has a more normal sidekick, even better. It all started with Due South. DS was my first "grown up" show. I'd watched shows that weren't targeted toward children before, of course, but Due South was the first that I loved. Benton Fraser, the Canadian Mountie in Chicago, was a delightful character that I loved to watch.
It all sort of grew from there for me. Whether I'm watching Psych, any variation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC's Sherlock, CBS's Elementary, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Brett, or even the old Ronald Howard television show!) or playing Professor Layton video games, or reading Albert Campion books, I just love weird people figuring out what really went on.

I've pretty much been trying to write a similar character to all of those for the past four years that I've done National Novel Writing Month. I'm not sure I've accomplished it, but it's been fun to try to write them.

Dear friend,
Wow, it's weird to write those words again. It's been, what? a year and a half? Well, it looks as though I might be back.

In the time I've been gone, I've acquired and lost a "job," found and left a church, learned a new hobby, become obsessed with an old one, written two books and countless other little things. But I don't feel like dwelling on the past. I would like to look toward the bright, shiny future.

This is just an announcement that I haven't abandoned this place. I just took a break. Regular programming will resume in a tick. I hope the wait was worth it.