Adventures in Real Time, released on January 6th, 2015, is YouTube star Dylan Gardner’s debut album. Dylan’s love of the Beatles shows in his music, hair style, and lyrics. Initially when listening to the album I didn’t have any positive or negative feelings but upon further listening I grew to enjoy Adventures in Real Time.

Once I looked, and heard, past the techno flares and random falsettos I found a genuine artist.  I am thoroughly impressed that Gardner, at 17, wrote all his music and lyrics, and recorded all the instruments himself in his bedroom. As a YouTuber myself, I know how difficult it is to get quality recordings from one’s bedroom. This album is so clean cut, I cannot believe he was recording in his bedroom, and while the music and lyrics aren’t groundbreaking, I definitely have respect for an artist who sticks with their original material.

My favorite song on the album is “I’m Nothing Without You.” From the lyrics to the ukulele, this song feels like something I could have written, in a good way. I relate to Gardner’s attachment and devotion that he feels for the person he’s singing to, and that’s something most teens can relate to.

Gardner’s style on “With a Kiss” is a mix of the bands Of Monsters and Men and One Republic, and surprisingly works. It starts out sounding a little like “Counting Stars” by One Republic, but is a much more mellow song. Then the Of Monsters and Men horns come in and it becomes its own beautiful creation. It took me a few listens to take “The Actor” seriously but I do like the emotion Gardner exudes in the song.

Being a debut album, “Adventures in Real Time” has issues. For starters the lyrics are extremely repetitive. That wouldn’t bother me so much if the music wasn’t even more repetitive than the lyrics.

As a 17 year old I feel like I am in Gardner’s target audience and yet his music sounds like it’s meant for 13 and 14-year-olds. If I didn’t know Gardner was 17, I would think he was 14 or 15 based on his voice and the depth of his music and lyrics.

His songs have this feeling like you’ve heard them before even though you haven’t. The opening song “Let’s Gets Started” sounds a lot like Gossamer’s “Take a Walk.” Gardner’s music and lyrics currently lack the emotional depth that I and many older teens are drawn to in music. For example, “Too Afraid to Love You” is so happy and confident that I don’t believe Gardner is too afraid to love her. Also I am not sure what the messages of some of the songs are or the message of the album as a whole even after listening to the whole album several times.

I think if Gardner were to have all his songs share a theme then the message would be easier to find.

That being said, I still like Gardner and I think he had a lot of potential. I will definitely listen to the follow up album when it comes out and I hope to find the depth and maturity that Adventures in Real Time is lacking.

I would definitely recommend checking out Gardner’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialDylanGardner. If you like what you find, check out the whole album and if not it didn’t cost you anything but your time.