New Final Fantasy - "Lewis Takes Action" & "E Is For Estranged"
Folks have been patiently awaiting Owen Pallett's forthcoming third Final Fantasy full-length Heartland. A pair of EPs worked well as a stopgap, but it's bound to be especially satisfying to hear Pallett's increasingly ambitious songwriting spread over a dozen tracks aka "a fully orchestral record, designed to exist simultaneously as an album, a 45-minute piece of orchestral music and a set of songs for looped violin and voice." We've heard live versions of "Keep The Dog Quiet" and "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt." This time around Lewis takes action in a song that starts off sounding like some a classical troupe colliding with a Spector girl-group until Pallett opens his mouth and pilots us elsewhere. We also have a live take of "E Is For Estranged," which is likely (maybe) not about Eels.
"E Is For Estranged", live on Dinner With The Band:
In case you want to start decoding things, Owen had this to say about Heartland:
The songs themselves form a narrative concerning a farmer named Lewis and the fictional world of Spectrum. The songs are one-sided dialogues with Lewis, a young, ultra-violent farmer, speaking to his creator. The album was compositionally modeled upon the principles of electronic music. The principles of analog synthesis informing symphonic writing, like an inversion of a Tomita record. These songs, too, were designed to be as dense with polyphony as the Final Fantasy live shows can become. While writing it, I kept an image in my head of putting so many notes on the page that the paper turned black.
To keep track:
01 "Midnight Directives"
02 "Keep The Dog Quiet"
03 "Mount Alpentine"
04 "Red Sun No. 5"
05 "Lewis Takes Action"
06 "The Great Elsewhere"
07 "Oh Heartland, Up Yours!"
08 "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt"
09 "Flare Gun"
10 "E Is For Estranged"
11 "Tryst With Mephistopheles"
12 "What Do You Think Will Happen Now?"
Heartland is out 1/12 via Domino. You can get an MP3 version of the song for the price of an email address at the label's site. As previously mentioned, FF appear on Dinner With The Band tonight at 11PM on IFC. And you can see him live, America:
01/14 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
01/16 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas
01/18 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Posted at 5:45 PM by brandon in MP3, Tour Dates, Video
Tags: Final Fantasy
I am SO EXCITED for this record and tour dates!!
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Honestly theres SO much music out there...
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I love FF, but this song is leaving me a little underwhelmed.
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are you serious? that was incredible. the orchestral sounds are perfect for his style. i cannot wait for this.
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E is for Estranged is GORGEOUS
amazing
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Final Fantasy is boring as fuck.
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Is Owen the Canadian version of Sufjan Stevens? ?
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E Is For Estranged is beautiful...I can't wait to hear the studio version of "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt" as well! Damn January 12th is going to be a good day! New Final Fantasy and Vampire Weekend album.
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great video. The audience to me is annoying. Ug. Why can't people be normal? The white man/woman bob the head is lame.
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more like why can't hipsters be normal
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These were great songs, can't wait for the album to drop.
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The songs are so amazing - really exciting to hear the recording. I agree that the audience on that dinner video is totally annoying. That jaded glaze on their faces - its like was this some sort of guest list accomplishment for them? It looks like they don't want to be there. What makes hipsters cling to this chin-rubbing pseudo deep-in-thought vacancy? Its isnt appealing at all....Owens voice sounds really nice though!
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