The Midsummer Station is the fourth studio album by American synthpop project Owl City and was released on August 17, 2012. Regarding the The Midsummer Station album title, Young told AOL Music that it is, "Purely imagery." He explained: "To me it's like, I have this place in my head that is ambiguous and safe. It's this idealist, surreal, perfect world. I think everyone needs that." (Good Time Songfacts). After Owl City's previous album, All Things Bright and Beautiful (2011) sold only 143,000 copies in the United States, Adam Young began working on demo tracks for The Midsummer Station in January 2012. Unlike his previous albums, Young worked with different songwriters and producers for the first time, including Stargate, Emily Wright, and Matthew Thiessen. Young was initially scared of the thought of collaborating with others, "I've never worked with anybody before. I've done everything myself except for mastering. It's a big job for one guy, especially a perfectionist, so I knew I wanted to try to experiment with other people." On May 15, 2012, Young released the Shooting Star EP, which consisted of four songs that would be featured on The Midsummer Station. Many criticized the EP, saying it was very different from Young's previous works. On his blog, Young defended his choice for the new sound of the EP and the album, stating that he believes "it's a bummer for an artist of any kind to hear, 'Yeah it's great but it's a lot like your previous work.' (...) Creativity is