Album review: Owl City - The Midsummer Station

Owl City - The Midsummer Station. Photo / Supplied.

If you weren't already an Owl City fan, then electro-pop whiz-kid Adam Young is unlikely to win you over with his fourth LP, The Midsummer Station.

In fact, even dedicated fans of previous releases may well be put off - he's lost the old charming whimsy to overly bombastic, plastic production on this album.

There's no doubt Young knows how to write strong hooks, but many of these 11 tracks feel like they could've been written by an algorithm.

Working with producers like Stargate (Rihanna, Katy Perry, etc) every track sounds like a shiny, punchy, top 40 hit, but there's not much to emotionally engage the listener.

The opening two songs (Dreams and Disasters and Shooting Star) actually sound like they could've been written for Ms Perry, but with Young's thin vocal delivery they don't really take off.

Then there are a bunch of filler tracks that make little impression - possibly because they're filled with hooks borrowed from every other summer anthem of the past two years.

But radio hit Good Time, featuring Carly Rae Jepsen, arrives and has a California Girls quality that works; and Metropolis has a joyous old-school electro-dance simplicity that reminds of DJ Sammy.

Several tracks here are undoubtedly hit material, but en masse they can feel over-produced and unmemorable.

The Midsummer Station(Universal Republic)
Verdict: Over-produced pop-confection missing a personality
Stars: 2/5
Buy this album here.