Heartland: Owen Pallett (****) <Domino> Genre: Baroque Pop, Experimental After dropping his Final Fantasy moniker, Pallett crafts a wildly imaginative soundscape It’s too bad Owen Pallett doesn’t go by Final Fantasy anymore.  Because that band name goes with the sounds of Heartland so well.  If you’ve ever played a Final Fantasy game, think music like that with a touch of weirdness, a dab of convoluted fantasy lyrics, and add Pallett’s delicate tenor voice cooing over the whole thing.  I must say, I was a bit skeptical going into Heartland, or rather I wasn’t familiar enough with Final Fantasy to make an accurate approximation of what the album would entail.  I didn’t expect to be wowed so much by Heartland as I was.  If you’re at all a fan of beautifully weird orchestral type music in the vein of Sufjan Stevens or St. Vincent, you should definitely give Heartland a listen. The more I listen to Heartland, the more I’m reminded by St. Vincent’s Actor that was released last year.  Pallett has this uncanny knack for melody and finding ways to fuck with it, yet still retaining the core “pop” feel of each song.  And like Actor, Heartland takes pop to the furthest reaches of accessibility.  There are tracks that almost recall the Arcade Fire, in that they’re pop songs that achieve remarkable levels of grandness and beauty.  And then there are songs that sound like atonal pieces that early 20th century composers would have come up with.   For the record, I will say that Heartland feels less consistent than Actor.  While there are several amazing songs here (the rushed hurriedness of “Midnight Directives,” the indie pop stringed beauty “Lewis Takes Action,” the optimistic and triumphant feel of “Tryst With Mephistopheles”), a couple I could have done without.  These couple songs aren’t bad in the ear hurting way, just in a kind of “meh, a bit boring” sort of way.  And at times Pallett’s voice feels flat and uninteresting.  But ultimately, I think Pallett’s voice and even lyrics aren’t the important focus on Heartland.  The real winner here is the creativity behind the music.  Put on some headphones and listen to what sounds like 1000 different stringed instruments.  Listen to the layered vocal harmonies, the wistful arpeggios from the flutes and the clarinets.  Listen to the triumphant booms of the timpani or the roaring flare of the trumpets and french horns.  The level of arranging here is staggering.  Heartland is easily Owen Pallett’s best work, and it will be interesting to see how the decade unfolds for him, because I think there is a lot of potential here for success. Key Tracks: “Lewis Takes Action,” “Tryst With Mephistopheles,” “E Is For Estranged” For Fans Of: Sufjan Stevens, The Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, Antony & The Johnsons 

Heartland: Owen Pallett (****) <Domino>

Genre: Baroque Pop, Experimental

After dropping his Final Fantasy moniker, Pallett crafts a wildly imaginative soundscape

It’s too bad Owen Pallett doesn’t go by Final Fantasy anymore.  Because that band name goes with the sounds of Heartland so well.  If you’ve ever played a Final Fantasy game, think music like that with a touch of weirdness, a dab of convoluted fantasy lyrics, and add Pallett’s delicate tenor voice cooing over the whole thing.  I must say, I was a bit skeptical going into Heartland, or rather I wasn’t familiar enough with Final Fantasy to make an accurate approximation of what the album would entail.  I didn’t expect to be wowed so much by Heartland as I was.  If you’re at all a fan of beautifully weird orchestral type music in the vein of Sufjan Stevens or St. Vincent, you should definitely give Heartland a listen.

The more I listen to Heartland, the more I’m reminded by St. Vincent’s Actor that was released last year.  Pallett has this uncanny knack for melody and finding ways to fuck with it, yet still retaining the core “pop” feel of each song.  And like Actor, Heartland takes pop to the furthest reaches of accessibility.  There are tracks that almost recall the Arcade Fire, in that they’re pop songs that achieve remarkable levels of grandness and beauty.  And then there are songs that sound like atonal pieces that early 20th century composers would have come up with.  

For the record, I will say that Heartland feels less consistent than Actor.  While there are several amazing songs here (the rushed hurriedness of “Midnight Directives,” the indie pop stringed beauty “Lewis Takes Action,” the optimistic and triumphant feel of “Tryst With Mephistopheles”), a couple I could have done without.  These couple songs aren’t bad in the ear hurting way, just in a kind of “meh, a bit boring” sort of way.  And at times Pallett’s voice feels flat and uninteresting.  But ultimately, I think Pallett’s voice and even lyrics aren’t the important focus on Heartland.  The real winner here is the creativity behind the music.  Put on some headphones and listen to what sounds like 1000 different stringed instruments.  Listen to the layered vocal harmonies, the wistful arpeggios from the flutes and the clarinets.  Listen to the triumphant booms of the timpani or the roaring flare of the trumpets and french horns.  The level of arranging here is staggering.  Heartland is easily Owen Pallett’s best work, and it will be interesting to see how the decade unfolds for him, because I think there is a lot of potential here for success.

Key Tracks: “Lewis Takes Action,” “Tryst With Mephistopheles,” “E Is For Estranged”

For Fans Of: Sufjan Stevens, The Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, Antony & The Johnsons