Final Fantasy Levels Up

Owen Pallett is accumulating a pretty impressive resume. Best known for providing the strings for Montreal Indie behometh The Arcade Fire, he has quietly amassed a large cult following with his critically acclaimed side project, Final Fantasy. Capturing the inagural Polaris Prize in 2006 for his theme album (aptly based off the schools of magic for the RPG Dungeons and Dragons) He Poos Clouds. He has worked with Grizzly Bear, Beirut, Jim Guthrie, and The Hidden Cameras. Recently, on CBC programme ‘Q’, Pallett announced his intention to finish his newest album, Heartland, in 2008. And more recently, an EP was released to (popular music blog) Stereogum including several tracks intended to be on the upcoming album.

That EP, entitled Spectrum, 14th Century, will change your life.

Admittedly not a huge Pallett fan - I liked his sophmoric release, Has a Good Home, but could not get into He Poos Clouds in the same capacity - I listened to the EP with the same skepticism that I’ve come to associate with him.  He’s good, definitely a pioneer in his field, but his music lacked a certain je ne sais quoi that made it accessible to me in a long term fashion. I liken the feeling to chewing bubble gum - it occupies the mouth, tastes pretty sweet, but when it loses its taste, it’s meant to be thrown out. No longevity in gum, and for me, no longevity in that kind of music. Gimmicky, but without the gimmicks.

In Pallett’s recent tracks, he surpasses this with a peculiar (but welcome!) ease. Combining the depths of the tracks with his stellar songwriting and exciting hooks, he comes up with near-perfection and blows his Montreal counterparts far, far away. Premature, perhaps, but if the album is this good, then he’ll easily land my top ten favorite albums of 2008.
Pallett takes and edgy approach when mapping out the fictious Spectrum. Combining bird noises (akin yet completely different to Logan Aube’s hockey anthem, ‘Hockey Scores’). If unfamiliar with the works prior of Final Fantasy, do not expect predictable violin pieces - his songs are beautifully arranged, but on occasion, screachy, angry, and sonically demanding.

Standout track, The Butcher, has scored 42 plays on my (uber snobby) iTunes in the past three days. I abhour using the word ‘epic’, but in the case of Final Fantasy, I feel any other word would be an injustice.