You all know about Owl City (aka Adam Young) and his chart-topping song “Fireflies” and album Ocean Eyes. But did you know that before Owl City there was Sky Sailing and he had an album called An Airplane Carried Me To Bed? Here’s the story behind what’s being called a “side project” in Young’s words:
Three and a half years ago, I recorded a collection of songs in my parent’s basement during the bleary-eyed hours of night when sleep and I could not bring ourselves to meet. I was a metalworker, working 6 AM to 4 PM at a warehouse in my little southern Minnesota town. I was writing, creating, thinking, imagining and breathing music with every second I had to spare. Music has always been my dream, but at that point in time, it was merely a feather tossed to the wind. Regardless, my spirits were far from dampened and I created music as fast and as furiously as I could. In my little basement bedroom, I had an old Dell computer, Reason 2.5, a friend’s borrowed Behringer C-1 condenser, a Behringer 8 channel analog mixer and my uncle’s old Alvarez. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing but I was a dreamer and music was my escape so I gave it everything I had. Never expecting my music to be heard anywhere but by my parents through the floorboards above, I wrote for my own ears. I was both artist and audience and I called myself Sky Sailing.
It’s true–the Sky Sailing’s vocals are very similar to what we hear on Ocean Eyes today. What differenciates the two alter egos is that Sky Sailing trades in Owl City’s current crop of synth-infused tracks for those that feature acoustic guitar and standard piano keys. Young explained to Billboard, “It was clear early on that it needed to be separate from Owl City. Overall, this piece is disconnected enough to be its own thing.”
On July 13, the 11-track An Airplane Carried Me To Bed was released to iTunes exclusively; it hits stores in physical form tomorrow (7/27). Although Young has done little to promote this new album, it quickly climbed the charts and sold thousands of copies during its initial digital release week. If you’re a fan of Owl City, you’ll want to preview what Sky Sailing has to offer. Feel free to preview four tracks from Airplane on his MySpace page.
[Thanks, Brian]