Great album. Much better than all things bright and beautiful. But not as good as ocean eyes. Which gets an 11 in my opinion. My top 3 songs on the cd are:
Speed of love
Dementia
Embers

For some fans this will be disappointing. But for most this will be a nice refreshing taste and sound to Pop music. Adam Young and his team have been able to create something very unique still. I still hear Owl City in this. This album is awesome!

First, for all previous Owl City fans, you can definitely agree with me that this is Adam's WORST Album. That doesn't mean the album in itself is bad, however. I loved his last albums so much because of his own lyrics that actually had some meaning towards them, but since the music industry made Adam use co-writers for this one, it simply shows how brilliant Adam is, and makes you wonder what some other artists could do if they didn't have co-writers. All this being said, I still love the album. Each song (Excluding Silhouettes, I'll get to that later) seemed to be written by a completely different person, but they were all catchy. I don't like dubstep whatsoever, but Bombshell Blonde caught my ear, and it's been played on my iPod a few times. The background music was more of a Pop genre than his previous "Electronic," "SynthPop," or "ElectroPop" styles, but it was still as catchy as ever. Now, on to Silhouettes. This is the favorite of most past Owl City fans, as it reminds them (And me) of Lonely Lullaby, and even a little bit of Vanilla Twilight. It is a quiet, soft, touching song. Everything being said, overall, this album is great. Again, it is Adam's worst album -- if you're into his old music. If you're a new fan of Owl City, simply based on this album and all the publicity it has gotten, maybe this is your type of music and SynthPop isn't! It's all up to opinions, and even though I prefer his old albums more, this is still a definite recommend.… Expand

I understand why this album is getting so much hate as it is a huge difference from what he normally does. But, that doesn't mean he's just gonna just uproot everything he's ever done and change styles completely. Artists sometimes like to experiment with different tools. And besides. in my opinion its pretty catchy.

The Midsummer Station is not going to be favored by everyone. Owl City, or Adam Young, does everything right to craft a catchy pop-laden album that will see some radio play (especially when teaming up with Carly Rae Jepsen on "Good Time"). But what ultimately worries me is the amount of sugar coat over many of these tracks. At times, it's Owl City's take of top 40 club & dance. Other times, it's a touch of Relient K over gentle piano ballads. It mostly works, but it's not a sure thing. "Bombshell Blonde" earns some praise, which Young adds the increasingly popular dubstep touch with excellence. "Silhouette" brings the charming and soft spot of the album, and "Gold" seems to be written under the influence of One Republic (though it's quite good). Owl City fans will love it. Those who aren't fans may not find a way to really embrace it.… Expand

"His latest effect is just the same as his previous albums... Fairly good, fairy, fantasy, fine, frozen pop/electronic music... And lets keep it that way (lucky not another "F" word was featured)."

TRACK-BY-TRACK REVIEWS --- Dreams & Disasters: This starts the album fairly well, with whimsical & well-made instrumentation & a good optimistic lyrical message. It enters club territory a little in the chorus but it doesn't distract very much. 7/10 - Shooting Star: The verses are vintage Owl City at its finest, with a dreamy-sounding synth line & lyrics. After that however, it shows nearly all the flaws that I mentioned in my Good Time rant below. The lyrics also take a nosedive in the chorus, becoming a lazy copy of Katy Perry's Firework, which IMO was already a mediocre song. 4/10 - Gold: The lyrics & vocal melody are okay (certainly a better "empowerment song" than Shooting Star) but what bothers me about this song is that it sounds EXACTLY the same as Alligator Sky from All Things Bright & Beautiful, which came out LAST YEAR. Does Adam really think his fans are this stupid?! Not only that; Alligator Sky was a far better song, with charmingly surreal lyrics & some great experimentation into hip hop. This, by comparison or by itself, is just mediocre. 3/10 - Dementia: This is the first song I heard from TMS when Adam leaked it back in April, & I was absolutely elated. Power chords, fantastic melodies & lyrics, & a duet with MARK HOPPUS! Great yet misleading first impression. 9/10 - I'm Coming After You: The music has an pretty cool synth-pop sound that's got an attitude to it. That however is where the praise ends. The police/love metaphors are cringe-worthily cheesy & almost come off as... rapey? Or at least stalkery? Maybe it's just me but it's a bit offputting. 6/10 - Speed of Love: Again, the metaphors are cheesy, albeit not as bad. But the overall sound of it is nice, & it's probably one of his more techno-leaning tracks. This is by far the best "dance" song here. 7/10 - Good Time: This is by far the most blatant indicator of what's wrong with a lot of this album: it's generic pop music that's pandering to the lowest common denominator, aka people who'll buy into any cheap schlock as long as you can dance to it. Every sellout indicator is here. Safe, generic lyrics that Adam probably wrote in 5 minutes with record execs watching closely behind him, with even a title that screams "mass appeal"? Check. Flavor of the week guest singer to ride the success coattails of (the Call Me Maybe girl)? Check! That copy-&-pasted pre-chorus & chorus beat that starts out as nothing, then gradually doubles in speed until a chorus that mainly consists of "oh" lazily repeated for 3 lines followed by a line that contains the title, backed by a generic club beat? CHECK! Shooting Star & Gold had me kinda upset, but this is just embarrassing, & a blatant cash-in for Adam to keep himself from becoming a one-hit wonder for Fireflies! 2/10 - Embers: Oddly enough, after the song that represented everything I DIDN'T wanna hear from this album, this song represents I DID wanna hear from this album. I loved the rock direction I heard on Dementia & I was hoping he'd expand on that, & that's exactly what this song did, & then some. Not only that but the instrumentation is beautiful, epic, & the lyrics are some of Adam's best. The string section was a nice touch too. 9/10 - Silhouette: On the opposite end of the highlight spectrum, we have this fantastic soft piano-driven ballad. The lyrics paint a beautiful picture of self-doubt without sounding emo & the instrumentation is carefully handled, providing just enough sound to invoke just the right amount of emotion. 8/10 - Metropolis: Like Good Time, this has that annoyingly generic, club-driven drum build-up. However, I think it fits a little better here, & the lyrics/instrumentation feel a bit more natural. 7/10 - Take It All Away: This song makes very good use of a slow, dragging boom-clap beat. Like Silhouette, the lyrics are breakup-centric, & while the lyrics here are slightly less subtle, they're just as good. The quiet synths in the background help create a great atmosphere, & this whole song just sounds so authentic, with the possible exception of the syllable-stuttering in the chorus, but I'll forgive that. 8/10 - Bombshell Blonde: This song just feels... off. I think it's because this is the only time where Adam has ever sung about something somewhat sex-related. It just doesn't fit. At least Good Time was about harmless celebration. This is basically about picking up a hot girl at the club. Don't get the impression that I'm a prude but given Adam's Christian upbringing & somewhat meek personality, this whole song just feels really forced. Case-in-points: the facepalm-inducing comparisons between himself & James Bond, & the *shudder* dubstep breakdown. The rest of the song is bad but I just can't help but crack up at that point from the awfulness. 2/10 - Top of the World: Meh. The guitar riff is okay but it just gets overtaken by the generic club stuff. Lyrics are pretty generic too. Just feels kinda stale. 4/10 --- Album score: 57/100… Collapse

Unfortunately, this is not one of Young's better albums. I recently composed a track-by-track analysis of The Midsummer Station on a blog I write for, so I don't plan to do that again. Instead, I'm simply going to put the only notable tracks in order from best to worst. Silhouette Metropolis Dementia (feat. Mark Hoppus) Embers Honestly, the rest are comprised of repetitive melodies and pop paradigms. It's the most disappointing album by Owl City and I'm hoping Adam Young doesn't keep up this sad decline into mainstream culture.… Expand

It is not necessarily a bad thing when an artist decides to take a new musical direction, but I believe it is in Adam Young's best interest that we state our true impressions. That being said, this album takes everything I love about Owl City and throws it out the window. His quirky metaphoric words have been exchanged for simple and often childish lyrics. I felt as if every song had to include something like "woo woo" or "oh oh oh". The beautiful complexity of his tunes have also been simplified to sound more repetitive and mainstream.
Really, to understand this album, one must simply take "Fireflies" and compare it to "Good Time". "I like to make myself belieeeeeve that planet eaaarth turns sloowwwwwwlyyy" has turned into "Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh oh".… Expand

I have no problem with artists evolving. In fact, I'm glad he changed things up for this album. Also, I'm not even close to being an "Owl Citizen". However, this is just bad generic pop music. I understand that Owl City has always been slighty generic and very cheesy, but this is a new low for him. I like a nice, dumb song when it's done well, like Good Time. But songs like Bombshell Blonde are not... Y'know, let me rephrase this. Bombshell Blonde is unmemorable, generic, stupid, not catchy, boring production until the bridge, and I can barely tell what he's saying. That also goes for a lot of the other songs. This album needs to disappear fast and Owl City needs to try (yet) another direction. Sorry.… Expand