Sky Sailing Carries You Away

Say what you will about Owl City, but Adam Young has taken his ability to clone the Post Service and reap in more money than the federal defecit. Young can clearly write a pop song that mashes pop chops with indie credilbilty as if it were second nature and after hearing his previous project, Sky Sailing it's obvious he's been doing this just about his entire life. Sky Sailing's album, An Airplane Carried Me To Bed predates his current band but is essentially Owl City with acoustic guitars instead of synthesizers. As if his songs were a template, Young easily dishes out the syrupy sweet and ridiculously happy sad songs in an almost assembly line fashion. While that might sound like a formula for something horribly bad, An Airplane Carried Me To Bed is the exact opposite.

An Airplane Carried Me To Bed is an impressive beginning to an impressive career. Young hints at all the talent he has in this eleven song set as he croons his heart out repeatedly. The effect is truly stunning; in fact the eleven songs play out like the last five minutes of every TV show on air right now with those hear achingly tender musical montages. The songs are so overly sweet and filled with heart ache they'll bring most fifteen year old girls to tears. This man is a star and he so easily casts his spell with hypnotizingly sugary pop that it doesn't matter whether he's playing a guitar or fifty keyboards, the results are all the same. So much of An Airplane Carried Me To Bed is packed with absolutely massive hooks that Sky Sailing is impossible to hide from. Sky Sailing & Young's power is inescapable and his ability to lob out gut wrenchingly good sappy pop songs is remarkable.

From the opening notes of "Captains of the Sky," to the sweeping strings and yearning of, "Explorers," and the near pop of, "A Little Opera Goes A Long Way," there's not really anything bad you can say about An Airplane Carried Me To Bed. Yes, even with an acoustic guitar Sky Sailing is commercial, but it's actually pretty decent sentimental sunshiny stuff. I’ll hand it to Adam Young, the guy clearly knows how to write a song and he's so tapped into that Death Cab for Cutie/Postal Service/DNTL power supply that there's no stopping him. An Airplane Carried Me To Bed is a perfect introduction to what would become Owl City and if you're a fan of that band, then I highly suggest you pick this release up, you won't be disappointed.