CityLife

Must see: Owl City

Owl City

‘Shyness’, as Morrissey once observed, ‘is nice - but shyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to’.

If there’s a character in music currently living up to that old observation, it’s Owl City – aka Adam Young – a basement technophile whose love of all things digital, disco and dance have made him the most unlikely pop tip of 2010.

And yes, you’ll have noticed his conspicuous absence from the annual Sound Of shortlist and the fact that, despite this lack of industry endorsement, he’s already has a number one in six countries with his breakthrough single Fireflies.

He’s got talent to scream about, but Young is so achingly introvert that he refuses to give interviews, preferring to put everything into his stage shows and recordings.

What little part of Young’s story we do know reveals that his music is born out of insomnia and his rise from basement twiddler to iTunes sensation has been a viral one, fueled by sites like MySpace and rocketed by his eventual signing to a major label.

If he sold an album for every MySpace hit, he’d be approaching Madonna-like super-stardom but instead the Minnesota kid is finding the attention all a little too much.

“I can’t believe how fast things have taken off,” Young recently commented about the fuss that now surrounds his second album, Ocean Eyes – the follow up to his independent LP Maybe I’m Dreaming and extended player Of June.

“It seems like it was only yesterday I put a few songs from my first EP online and watched things begin to happen on their own.

“I never thought music could spread like mine did through the internet. I guess it’s just another testament to the power of technology and communication.

“I do know one thing though: I just want to keep creating. It’s a lot of fun and it’s the only thing in the world I’m good at.”

Owl City - Academy - February 22, 2010 - £10.