I was writing a feature for my day job yesterday, and spent most of the day with this single by Owl City (Perhaps where Chuck Klosterman's Downtown Owl is located? I sort of like that idea.), "Fireflies," on repeat.
It's a pretty good. As Jonah Weiner pointed out on Twitter, Owl City has The Postal Service's light, electronic sound absolutely nailed. But the dude from Owl City isn't nearly as good a lyricist as Ben Gibbard. I mean, "'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs / From ten thousand lightning bugs"? Really, dude? There are some decent images in the song, but they're drawn from what's essentially a gimmicky, twee lyrical concept. Take, for example, "Clark Gable," one of my favorite singles from Give Up, sadly The Postal Service's only album to date:
The scenario, a guy inventing a project he can work on with an ex-girlfriend he misses, is eminently plausible. And the title lines are divine, economical, precise: "I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would admire / I thought it classic / I want so badly to believe / That there is truth that love is real." It's the exact kind of posturing we do every day, and an illustration of the posturing we do particularly with the people we are the most intimate with and thus the most vulnerable to.
Same thing with "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," which I'll admit to having a soft spot for / being vulnerable to, since I've had many of the emotions the song describes in the city's it set in. Whether it's the lovely metaphor of the lonely city ("The District sleeps alone tonight / After the bars turn out their lights / And sends the autos swerving / Into the loneliest evening") or the absolutely wrenching declaration "And I am finally seeing / Why I was the one worth leaving," the song expresses absolute, common truths in surprising, revealing ways that makes them new:
Plus, the video is just insanely gorgeous, more high-concept and better executed than Owl City's one for "Fireflies," which is as twee as you might expect, not that that's entirely a bad thing.