Draft:Sky Sailing

Sky Sailing was an American acoustic musical project by Adam Young of Owl City. The project started in Owatonna, Minnesota, United States in 2006. He released his debut album An Airplane Carried Me to Bed and the album peaked at number 30 on the Billboard 200.

History
Sky Sailing originated in 2006 in Owatonna, Minnesota, United States. Young wrote and recorded Sky Sailing's songs, while he was still a metalworker living with his parents. He wrote 12 acoustic songs using his uncle's old Alvarez guiatr. "Sailboats" was the first track Young wrote for An Airplane Carried Me to Bed. He recorded songs for the album in the summer of 2007 before Owl City broke out into the mainstream. Once Ocean Eyes became a commercial success in 2009, Young announced that he would re-launch the Sky Sailing project in 2010. He pitched the idea of releasing the album to Universal Records, which they were supportive of. Originally, these songs were made for his friends to hear and were supposed to be put on his MySpace page before Owl City took off and Young decided to put Sky Sailing on hold.

Upon his return to Sky Sailing, Young uploaded two tracks on MySpace, "Brielle" and "I Live Alone". He began re-polishing songs from the album on his laptop in between Owl City shows in the spring of 2010. "Brielle" was released as the debut single from the album on July 13, 2010 and was sent to Triple-A and Hot AC radio formats. An accompanying music video for the song premiered on July 28, 2010 via VEVO. That same day, he released his debut album An Airplane Carried Me to Bed digitally and was one of the most-downloaded new albums on the week it was released. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 30 and sold 15,000 copies first week. Two singles, "A Little Opera Goes a Long Way" and "Flowers of the Field", followed after the album's release. Young initally had plans for a Sky Sailing tour in the spring of 2011, however, those plans were later scrapped.

In a 2018 Reddit AMA, Young confirmed that Sky Sailing would be returning. However, as of 2023, the project has yet to return.

Musical style
Sky Sailing has been described as an acoustic-based project, that focuses less on the familiar Owl City electropop sound. Young called the project, "darker, moodier, and much more organic." The acoustic sound was compared to the indie rock band Death Cab For Cutie. Billboard described it as, "Young's more vulnerable side." Young called these recordings, "a step into the past." His first album is described as an indie-pop record that features more acoustic guitars and piano sounds than Young's familiar electronic sound.