Final Fantasy (Owen Pallet) is a Polaris Prize-winning violinist who recently played both the Hillside festival in Guelph Lake, ON (July 24-26) and the Pitchfork Music festival (July 17-19). The festivals were complete opposite experiences for Pallett as he described Pitchfork's fest a "festival filled with a bunch of spoiled babies... who went online to whine about everything from the music to the weather. Every single band there was among the hottest bands I could ever hope to see, and yet people were still complaining." "Here at Hillside, everybody could complain about the lineups for the bathrooms or the beer or whatever, but nobody's complaining - they're just having a good time."
Unfortunately, the drizzle on the Hillside turned into an outright poor while he was performing "Lewis Takes His Shirt Off" from his upcoming album, Heartland (due out at the end of 2009), as the stagehands scurried to cover the equipment with plastic. The rumored album that has taken a couple of years to make is finally in the completion stage. Pallet, the foot pedaling looper, recorded some of the album at the Greenhouse studio in Iceland, where Bjork made some of her records. His longtime friend and once Arcade Fire band mate, Jeremy Gara, helped him out with the record. Final Fantasy's career started opening for and playing with Arcade Fire after their release of Funeral (2004). Being a bachelors graduate in music composition, he wrote the string arrangements for Funeral and Neon Bible. For his upcoming album, Heartland, he recorded alongside a 50 piece orchestra in Prague. Traveling even more to his hometown Toronto and then New York for mixing.
MP3: Final Fantasy - Song Song Song.mp3 (He Poos Clouds June 2006)
MP3: Final Fantasy - The Butcher.mp3 (Spectrum, 14th Century - EP September 2008)
MP3: Final Fantasy - Ultimatum.mp3 (Plays to Please - EP October 2008)
MP3: Final Fantasy & Ed Droste - Possibly Maybe.mp3 (Stereogum Presents... Enjoyed: A Tribute To Björk's Post)
Update: Listen to the entire Dodos album Time to Die (September 15, 2009) at Time to Die.
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