It’s hard to imagine how much better things could get for Adam Young right now. When the shy 23-year-old first uploaded a few synth-pop songs on to his Myspace profile in 2007, his Owl City project was just one of thousands of unknown acts in the web’s worldwide hive of musical activity. Two-and-a-half years and one EP, two albums and over 50 million Myspace hits later. Its parent album, the self-produced Ocean Eyes, has nestled happily in the U.S. Top Ten since its release in July, and, after confessing that playing his first shows left him with ‘white knuckles’, Adam is now confidently playing sold-out shows. The shy boy’s dreamy DIY imaginings have become a bonafide pop phenomenon.

But even a cursory listen to the gorgeous synthetic gems on Ocean Eyes reveals why Owl City has struck such a universal chord. Young has fashioned an elegant and seemingly effortless connection between fashionably arty, retro-nouveau electro pop and the kind of fresh-faced, sweetly melancholic hit factory songwriting that you can imagine being sung by X Factor contestants a few years down the line.

The key, perhaps, lies in Young’s emergence from a non-musical family in Owatonna, Minnesota - a small-town which has no music scene to speak of.  Young is glad to own up to the Owatonna influence on Owl City’s pristine pop. ‘Owatonna is a comfortable, quaint, cozy place. Returning home after a long trip is like pulling on a pair of warm sweatpants fresh out of the dryer after shoveling the driveway in your undershorts. It's very welcoming.’

The bedroom symphony aspect to Owl City’s pop is also helped by Adam’s influences. Talk to him about favourite acts and his first mentions go to underground heroes. ‘I'm a huge fan of experimental music. Wordless, ambient music that was designed with the intention of letting the listener decide what a given song is or isn't about. I love the idea of music being limitless or bottomless in terms of the moods and feeling it elicits. Bands like Stars of the Lid, Helios, Boards of Canada, Hammock, Unwed Sailor.