Since Owl City had already sold his genuine authenticity down the river, it didn't seem that he could scrape the bottom of the pop barrel any further. If it didn't follow "The Midsummer Station", the embarrassing realization of this sentiment, then "Mobile Orchestra" would be Owl City's worst album. Adding insult to injury is the "Ultraviolet" EP in 2014, which brought a brief moment of relief and suggested that Adam Young was trying to reconnect with the spirit of his earlier, and best, work. But since that is not the case with OC's first full-length in three years, "Mobile Orchestra" plays out like a botched attempt at a career rebirth after a tragic failure at finding pop crossover success. What's worse is that Adam Young continues to offer the same excuse for his pop ventures, stating that he makes music he believes he should make, rather than what others tell him to make. Not only is this argument transparent--"Good Time" featured Carly Rae Jepsen because Republic Records told him that it should--but it also implies that Young realized that "The Midsummer Station" was not only contrived, but it also sanded down his core star-making audience. "Ultraviolet" has already made this apparent with its mix of "old meets new", and in light of "Mobile Orchestra", that 2014 EP now appears to have been lip service to OC's original fan base. Now in 2015, he's back to making shallow and paint-by-numbers mainstream pop, drafting "Wake Me Up!" singer Aloe Blacc for first song/lead single "Verge", which seems to be designed as "Shooting Star" meets Blacc's own solo hit "The Man", while resurrecting 90s one-hit wonder Hanson for "Unbelievable", a flat-out terrible song, the worst that Owl City has ever recorded, which streamlines BuzzFeed's nostalgia craze into three minutes of stomach-lurching cliches. So derivative are these two songs, that it's excruciatingly baffling why anyone in Owl City's camp would continue to think that these pop hand-me-downs would work in the hands of an artist that can't convincingly sell these gimmicks.
But even when "Mobile Orchestra" revisits classic OC territory, mainly the Christian-pop cuts "My Everything" and "You're Not Alone", it still doesn't work because these songs are also recycled and bland. The momentary detour into country music, the Jake Owen-assisted "Back Home", doesn't fail as a song but is also not a persuasive testament to Owl City's ability to pull off the production and style. The only time that "Mobile Orchestra" succeeds in any collaboration or genre is when lower-profile artists reside in the passenger seat (see the lone highlight "Thunderstruck", featuring Trance singer Sarah Russell) or when subtlety is favored over the obvious (such as the song "Bird With A Broken Wing", perhaps a more fitting title for this record). Partnering with big-budget singers and songwriters is not, nor has it ever been, an appealing outfit on Owl City because when under the thumb and control of others, his imagination is stifled, which makes his on-record presence weak and hollow. And that's the most pertinent problem with "Mobile Orchestra", because if it had been presented with some sense of humor or frivolity, then it would've been easy to laugh at and with it. There are actually a lot fun songs here, but because Adam Young's heart isn't in it, they become faceless and boring. His lack of soul and pizzazz turns these songs into the worst kind of pop music: the type that has great potential, but is predictable, unenjoyable, and could have been made by anyone. What would've been Owl City's worst album is then something that's interestingly tragic; a disappointment to long-time fans who've waited for a half-decade to return to his creative roots, but its shortcomings don't associate with the Owl City name when it doesn't remotely feel or sound like Owl City.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Verge 2. I Found Love 3. Thunderstruck
4. My
Everything 5. Unbelievable 6. Bird With A Broken Wing
7. Back Home 8. Can’t Live Without
You 9. You’re Not Alone
10. This Isn’t The End
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