''Ultraviolet'' is the fourth

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

by American electronica project

Owl City Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, who created the project while experimenting with music in his pa ...

, released digitally on June 27, 2014, through Republic Records. The EP's lead single, "Beautiful Times", which features violinist

Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling pe ...

, was released on April 8, 2014.

Background and release

In early 2014, Young revealed the album artwork for his single, "Beautiful Times", through his Instagram account. The song, which was released on April 8, would act as the lead single for ''Ultraviolet'' and features music by violinist

. Following the release of "Beautiful Times", Young stated his intent to release a steady "series of EPs" in 2014 rather than one larger recording. On June 5, it was announced that the EP would be released on June 27. The album art and track listing, as well as a clip of one of the songs, were released on June 10 as part of a social media marketing campaign to promote the release of the EP. On June 17, the EP was released for pre-order on iTunes. On June 18, Owl City premiered a new track, "Wolf Bite" days before the release of the EP. Starting on June 19, through many forms of social media, Young stated the official music video for "Beautiful Times" will be premiering on June 26. On June 25, the day before the premiere, Young posted a preview from the video. The "Beautiful Times" music video debuted the next day, as expected, via ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''. The EP peaked No. 30 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. "Beautiful Times" eventually peaked at position 91 on the Japan Hot 100 chart. On July 17, Owl City released a visualizer video for the song "Wolf Bite" premiering on MetroLyrics.com through

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

. On August 1, the a visualizer video for "Up All Night" was released. Adam Young has expressed his interest to create respective visualizers for each song in this EP. On August 29, the video for "This Isn't The End" was released and serves as the last visualizer for the EP. The song was also included on the subsequent studio album, ''

Mobile Orchestra ''Mobile Orchestra'' is the fifth studio album by American electronica project Owl City, which was released on July 10, 2015. The album debuted at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200. This is the project's last album under Republic Records befo ...

''.

Composition

Adam Young wrote and produced the EP entirely by himself. According to Young, the EP is a "deeper venture into EDM" and has a more "edgier sound to Owl City than experienced before."

Critical reception

''Ultraviolet'' was generally met with positive reviews. Fred Thomas of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

stated, "''Ultraviolets high point was first song and subsequent single 'Beautiful Times', a bounding pop track marked by soaring string arrangements from guest violinist

." Marcus Floyd of ''

Renowned for Sound ''Renowned for Sound'' is an Australian online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a pri ...

'' remarked, "There are definitely some different sounds being experimented here with ''Ultraviolet'', standing out from the light hearted pop previously tapped into by Owl City."

Background and release

Composition

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

Music videos

References