Owl City's All Things Bright and Beautiful..Is

Owl City (Adam Young) released his latest masterpiece yesterday. After downloading it to iTunes and listening through it three times, it's obvious that he has picked up where he left off with Ocean Eyes and is delivering a heaping helping of what got him to where he is today.

If you loved Fireflies you'll love this release. Thirteen songs, plus an online book provide all the unexpected twists of melody, electronically generated rhythms, poignant pauses, tight harmonies and a dash of disco fever.

Sometimes Adam starts with a simple guitar strum or plain piano chords, but with Mr. Young it builds and builds--sometimes dropping off suddenly. You can count on rich and sometimes thrilling swells of accompanyment to his clear, youthful singing. I know that I am completely smitten, and have blogged twice about him--February 12 and February 19.

One complete surprise on this album is the track January 28, 1986. It features President Ronald Reagan's speech after the Challenger Disaster with minimal background by the artist. Then, it swings immediately into the rhythmic celebration of Galaxies and you're off!

I made notes on each song, but I don't really need to present them here. The Devo-like hollering in Kamakazi was something new from Owl City. Mostly, though, it was more of what we want. Not sure which song will be his next radio hit, but you could probably take anything off this album and use it.