Owen Pallet
Well, some people may have heard of Mr. Pallet here by his prior stage name of Final Fantasy and if you haven't then shame on you cause this is an amazing musician with a brand of music that is quite archetypal. Yes, Final Fantasy was a tribute to the video games of the same name as he was a major fan, but don't let that major nerdness turn you off his music. There is no great story for the change to his given name, but it suits the fact that his newest release and first under Owen Pallet is clearly his best. That is saying something because his second album won the Polaris Music Prize in 2006, which if you don't know is a major honor beating out the likes of The New Pornographers, Wolf Parade, Metric and Broken Social Scene. Before I tell you about the basis for this album that won just know I am not making this shit up. Its called He Poos Clouds and 4/5 of the album's songs are based on schools of magic from Dungeons & Dragons!
Not only may you know Owen Pallet from Final Fantasy but you may know him as the writer and performer of the strings on a couple of albums by this little band called Arcade Fire or something like that. Also he contributed strings to Beirut, Grizzly Bear, Fucked Up, Great Lake Swimmers, The Mountain Goats, and The Last Shadow Puppets. As some people may know Arcade Fire is supposedly recording an album as we speak and Owen Pallet recently twittered, "10 days on the best album I've ever had the pleasure of working on." Which is such sweetness to my ears, but the reason I wrote this post about Owen is Heartland, his latest album. Heartland is as beautiful as it is sad. An album about "nothingness" that will move you to the brink of an emotional breakdown. Totally heartfelt, and totally phenomenal. Pitchfork.com gave it an 8.6 and a Best New Music label. Well I certainly agree although I would give it a little higher score at an 8.8 because it really hit the spot for me. Check out everything Owen Pallet does, cause it is all so very damn good!
Check These Songs Out:
- This Lamb Sells Condos
- Midnight Directives
- The Arctic Circle
- Oh Heartland, Up Yours!
- Tryst With Mephistopheles
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