Last month, British Asian artist Jay Sean became the first UK performer to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Leona Lewis in 2008.
Sean was knocked off his perch by another intriguing phenomenon – Owl City. This is the moniker of one Adam Young, a resident of Owatonna, Minnesota. The shy only child has burst out of his bedroom set-up with the delicate filigree of ‘Fireflies’, a fusion of subtle keyboard motifs and plain, emo-style vocals similar to our own Get Cape Wear Cape Fly.
A sampler of forthcoming album Umbrella Beach reveals more wide-eyed romanticism and even a bizarre, introverted take on house music with its title track. All very promising, though a word of warning should be raised. Young may have found fame with ‘Fireflies’, though whether he can maintain such success is less clear.
Think back, if you can, to the unheralded success in the UK of White Town. This was a similar one-man project set up by one Jyoti Prakash Mishra, who had a number one hit in 1997 with Your Woman. Mishra was already past 30 when he enjoyed his first hit, but was also reputed to be a straight-edged ex-Marxist, hardly fodder for the pop machine. Needless to say, White Town quickly disappeared from view, although Mishra still occasionally puts out music under that name on various indie labels.
And Owl City is not the only one to Do It Himself. From Canada comes the more mainstream Lights, the UK has Fryars, currently opting for the Bandshare route, though the most compelling solo act to emerge in recent months is Memory Tapes. New Jersey’s Dayve Hawke has already caused ripples as Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes. Now he has combined the two pseudonyms and really hit the spot with his album Seek Magic. It is a lovingly constructed melange of shimmering guitars and hazy synths, blissful yet palpably kinetic. Prepare to be entranced.
