Owl City! Owl City…? Ugh. I once spent the longest twenty minutes of my life watching the boring bloke play a long set off a short pier.
So when the name Owl City started get bandied around when comparing the LA via Austin (6th street is a popular night hang out) duo I wondered if I was the right guy to review em. And maybe I’m not. But one half of the band, Grant Cook, learnt his trade in University of Texas bar band Left Gun Jack. This allows Grant and the other half Mike Miller to remain crowd pleasers who, at least, have a better handle on audience ancipitation than the solipsistic Owl City.
The good looking guys have potential smasharino written all over “Angels Fallen” and if a major label hears it I see no reason why they can’t ride the power pop ballad coattails to huge popularity.
Me? Not my idea of fun… admire the craftsmanship and I might pass it along to Mary Magpie who i think would love it, but the title is the giveaway and pathos is not my calling card.
But like I said, solipsism isn’t really where 6th street is at. They are more like a Ben Folds Five plus electronica and when they get it right, on a cool synth rocker like “Try And Stop Love” with its Human League synths and hook line and sinker “try and stop stop…” chorus, they are the best sort of populists: good and catchy.
6th Street have a four song EP available on Itunes and are at Arlene’s grocery on Saturday. Go because chances are within a year you’ll be saying “I knew 6th street when…”