Progress Report: Final Fantasy
Twice a week, Jessica Suarez's Progress Report updates you on what your favorite bands have been doing. Or not doing.
NAME: Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)
PROGRESS REPORT: Finishing work on Heartland, his followup to He Poos Clouds.
Owen Pallett describes the way he works as "fastidious." "I'm a Virgo, if you're into that sort of thing," he explains. The "way he works" seems to apply not only to recording his followup to 2006's He Poos Clouds, but to his life as well. He's the kind of person who takes down ambiguous Twitter messages and leaves voicemails to correct something he said via e-mail, even when (or especially when) his intentions are innocent. Even the songs he debuted at his February 28 appearance at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music ("Keep The Dog Quiet, "Lewis Takes Action," "The End Of Time," and "Tryst With Mephistopheles") display a precision that says, "please don't misunderstand me."
But the title of his new record, Heartland, is a bit duplicitous. On the one hand, Heartland refers to a different area for the Toronto native, the farming and manufacturing areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. On the other, America's heartland has a little in common with Pallett's. "I like the title Heartland, it has a double meaning," he says. "Along with "homeland,' the word seems to signify feelings of familiarity and comfort, but most often, it's used with a sentiment of xenophobia and/or a sense of entitlement." The album was originally going to be about "nothingness," though Pallett admits that it's changed. It's certainly not about death, as He Poos Clouds was: "It's about romance. The thing that comes before death."
Pallett says that at first he wasn't sure if he should make a big orchestral record or do a home recording. "Two of my idols -- Van Dyke Parks and Angela Morley -- sent nice letters about He Poos Clouds. Nico Muhly's been of massive encouragement, too," he says. "I had done some self-production in the interim on EPs and 7"s, as well as other people's records, and I thought I could take it on." Pallet began seriously writing for Heartland back in August, and has since gone to Iceland for early recording, a 50-piece string orchestra in Prague, and mixing back home. He says he's still recording vocals and mixing tracks for Heartland, but that it'll be out before the end of the year. The results sound like a great mix of analog and digital: orchestral pieces written as electronic music approximating orchestral music. "There's this one song called 'The Great Elsewhere,' it is the sound of polyphony increasing to a point of saturation. Critical mass polyphony," Pallet says. "It's pretty brutal, like three New Order songs being played at the same time."
In Prague, where the strings were recorded.
Owen and Leon Taheny on a break from recording.
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Posted at 12:46 PM by Jessica in Progress Report
Tags: Final Fantasy
Battles Please.
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oho thank you stereobloggers, i have been waiting for heartland for quite awhile! too bad "before the end of the year" is kind of ambiguous.
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the record i've been anticipating the most for a while now.
saw him with colleen in são paulo last september. it was so great.
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This record MUST MUST MUST come out this year.
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Looking forward to this and the new Yeasayer!
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If Heartland comes out this year, I'll will be one happy kid.
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I heard again from Owen, who said: "The record might not be out this year. I'm pushing for it, but... yeah. I'd rather not say 'out this year!' while I'm just having that discussion right now."
So it might not be out this year, which is too bad.
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tom vek. where is he?
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I go to school at York University in toronto, and saw posters for Heartland up in art buildings around march and april...
anybody know anything about that?
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Battles please!!
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Owen Pallett said he was buying ten copies of Micachu's Jewellery and asked if anyone wanted one, via twitter. I said sure, why the hell not, and gave him my address via e-mail. It arrived a month later.
I'm buying his album no matter what because of that. What a cool guy he is.
/still agrees we need a Battles update though
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Battles would be great!
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My apologies. I have no idea why that posted three times. While I am at it, I might as well comment on Final Fantasy. This album is sure to be remarkable. I thought that the two EPs he released last year were largely underrated. They were both stunning and this album couldn't come out sooner!
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I think Owen is quickly reaching the point where he can do nothing wrong and is on his way (if he's not there already) to becoming indie music royalty. I'm sure this album will be great. Why shouldn't we think so, everything else he has done has been fantastic. I'm looking forward to it.
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