All Things Bright and Beautiful (album)

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All Things Bright and Beautiful
Album All Things Bright and Beautiful Cover.jpg
Studio album by Owl City
Released June 14, 2011
Recorded at Sky Harbor Studios, Owatonna, Minnesota
Genre Synthpop, indietronica, pop rock
Length 41:22
Label Universal Republic
Producer Adam Young
Owl City chronology
Ocean Eyes
(2009)Ocean Eyes2009		 All Things Bright and Beautiful
(2011)		 Shooting Star
(2012)Shooting Star2012
Singles from All Things Bright and Beautiful
  1. "Alligator Sky"
    Released: April 12, 2011[1]
  2. "Galaxies"
    Released: April 19, 2011[2]
  3. "Deer in the Headlights"
    Released: May 23, 2011[3]
  4. "Lonely Lullaby"
    Released: July 19, 2011[4]
  5. "Angels"
    Released: September 20, 2011
  6. "Dreams Don't Turn to Dust"
    Released: October 10, 2011[5]

All Things Bright and Beautiful is the third studio album by the American electronica project Owl City, released on June 14, 2011.[6] Despite receiving mixed critical reviews, it became a commercial success, reaching the No. 6 slot on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The album's name is based on the hymn of the same name.[7]

Writing and development

The album sees for the most part Adam Young staying true to his synthpop roots; however, he also dabbles in indie rock, folk, European trance in "Galaxies" and on "Alligator Sky", rap. Guest musicians on the album include Shawn Chrystopher, Matthew Thiessen, Lights, Breanne Düren and Adam Young's mother, Joan Young.

The album was originally planned to have a worldwide release date of May 24, 2011.[8] It was then changed to May 17.[9] On April 6, however, Young posted on his official site that the release date had been bumped to June 14, 2011.[10] He stated that the reason for this was, "In an attempt to better connect the dots and ensure that every cloud in the sky is stitched together with its own special silver lining", and "with school finally out for the summer, it'll be a perfect time to sit back and watch the fireworks." Along with this post were previews of four tracks from the new album, each being 1:30 long. The previews posted were of "Alligator Sky (ft. Shawn Chrystopher)", "Deer in the Headlights", "Galaxies" and "Dreams Don't Turn to Dust".

On the introductory track to "Galaxies", entitled "January 28, 1986" (the date of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster), Ronald Reagan's State of the Union speech is sampled.

Singles

The first official single released from the album was "Alligator Sky", which features Californian rapper Shawn Chrystopher, was released on March 22, 2011. There are currently four versions of the track. The first version features Shawn Chrystopher, the second features different lyrics and Chrystopher's vocals are omitted, a third version featuring Atlanta rapper B.o.B leaked online,[11] and finally a fourth version featuring vocals from Big Boi of Atlanta hip hop duo Outkast also leaked onto the internet.[12]

An exclusive single, "Lonely Lullaby", was released to all members of Owl City Galaxy, a club that you automatically became a part of when you pre-ordered the album. The song mentions an "Annmarie" many times, a reference to Adam Young's ex-girlfriend, Annmarie Monson. This song, however, is not actually part of the album. The app was discontinued in mid-2013.

On April 19, 2011, "Galaxies" was released as the second single from the album, and was made available for purchase and download on iTunes. It is the band's highest charting single on Billboard Christian Song Chart, peaking at number 39,[13] and surpassing Fireflies, which peaked at number 44 (2010).[14] It has since then re-entered the chart at number 48 in the week of September 24, 2011.[13]

The third single to be released was "Deer in the Headlights",[3] released on May 24, 2011 (but as an iTunes Exclusive, was made available for download the previous day). The single was announced in a different way than what is considered traditional. Starting May 16, 2011, every day of that week part of the song would be added to the sneak peek.[15] It was originally just called "New Song", and fans had to guess the new song. The first part of the song to be released were the drums, followed by the addition of bass, guitar, synthesizer, and vocals over the next four days. On the final day, the title for the song was announced. Electropop artist Lights made an appearance in the music video.[citation needed]

"Lonely Lullaby" was released as a single on July 19, 2011, making it officially available to people outside of Owl City Galaxy. The song has been a surprising success, being one of the higher charting singles.[citation needed]

Young has confirmed in an interview with Sugarscape that on October 10 "Dreams Don't Turn to Dust" will be the next single from the album, although it is uncertain if it will be released in the UK only.[16]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2.5/5 stars[17]
Christian Music Zine 4/5 stars[18]
Consequence of Sound 2.5/5 stars[19]
Entertainment Weekly B−[20]
The Guardian 2/5 stars[21]
IGN 8/10[22]
Jesus Freak Hideout 5/5 stars[23]
Newsday A−[24]
Rolling Stone 2/5 stars[25]
Spin 5/10[26]
USA Today 3/4 stars[27]

Critical reception

All Things Bright and Beautiful has received mixed reviews, gaining a 49/100 score from Metacritic,[28] an 8/10 score from IGN[29] and a score of 5/10 from Spin.[30]

Commercial performance

In the US, the album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart selling 48,000 copies.[31] In Germany, the album only reached No. 69 for one week before falling off the chart, charting lower than Ocean Eyes, which charted for 9 weeks and peaked at No. 7.[32] In the United Kingdom, the album reached No. 30 in the midweek chart on June 23, only to fall off before the official chart later in the week.[33] Ocean Eyes peaked at No. 7, and stayed in the top 75 for 14 weeks.[34] To date, the album has sold around 120,000 copies in the US.[35]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Adam Young, except where noted. 

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "The Real World"     3:34
2. "Deer in the Headlights"     3:00
3. "Angels"     3:40
4. "Dreams Don't Turn to Dust"     3:44
5. "Honey and the Bee"     3:44
6. "Kamikaze"     3:27
7. "January 28, 1986" (Intro to "Galaxies")   0:37
8. "Galaxies"     4:03
9. "Hospital Flowers"     3:39
10. "Alligator Sky" (featuring Shawn Chrystopher) Adam Young, Shawn Chrystopher 3:05
11. "The Yacht Club" (featuring Lights)   4:32
12. "Plant Life"   Adam Young, Matthew Thiessen 4:10

Personnel

Owl City
  • Adam Young – vocals, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitars, bass, drums, programming, percussion, glockenspiel, marimba, accordion, producer, engineer, art direction, audio mixer
Additional musicians and production
  • Breanne Düren – additional vocals on track 5
  • Shawn Chrystopher – additional vocals on track 10
  • Lights – additional vocals on track 11
  • Joan Young – backing vocals on track 9
  • Matthew Thiessen – backing vocals on track 12
  • Laura Musten – violin on tracks 4, 6, 10 & 13
  • Hannah Schroeder – cello on tracks 6, 7, 10 & 13
  • Daniel Jorgensen – vibraphone on tracks 4 & 7
  • Steve Bursky – producer, management & hand claps on track 5
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • StudioAKT – art direction
  • Jack Joseph Puig – audio mixer
  • Joe Corey – audio mixer assistant

Charts

Music videos

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Exclusive: Big Boi enhances Owl City's new single 'Alligator Sky' | MediaFandom.com[dead link][dead link]
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ http://newyork.metromix.com/music/standard_photo_gallery/the-20-biggest-flops/2965674/content
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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