Heartland

Owen Pallett's latest album is by far his most consistently amazing recording to date. There's not an average song on Heartland. It's pretty much all I'm listening to - along with Joanna Newsom's The Milk-Eyed Mender. If any album will be better than Heartland this year it has to be something truly remarkable *cough*Arcade Fire*cough*. At the minute I'm particularly awestruck on "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt" and "Keep The Dog Quiet", but ask me again in a few and I'll surely name two other songs. Can't recommend Heartland enough. So with that said, listen to the entire album belooooow. I dare say you won't regret it.

Heartland out now!!

The US iTunes Store has oddly enough put up Owen Pallett's new album Heartland. BUY IT NOW ALL YOU AMERICANS! Wouldn't surprise me if the US Store's mistake will lead to all iTunes Stores soon will have it available for purchase. Will update this post should that happen.

Edit: They've now realised their mistake and taken it down. Though because they've been so careless there are of course much less legal copies of the album out there.

Two quickies

• The Irish Times picks Funeral by Arcade Fire as their #1 album of the decade.
• Final Fantasy performs Lewis Takes Action and Midnight Directives from his new album Heartland which of course is due in early January next year.

Lewis Takes Action

Trade your email address for a free mp3 of Final Fantasy's new single "Lewis Takes Action". You can also pre-order the new album Heartland. Can't wait for it to drop down in my mailbox!

Final Fantasy - "Heartland" album details

Press release from Domino

Heartland exists. The third Final Fantasy full-length and the first for Domino, it is the product of nine months of work in four countries. Heartland is 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. Heartland will be released by Domino on Monday the 11th of January 2010. Owen Pallett explains:

"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."

"This record encapsulates a whole year of work for me, and was difficult to see through, but immensely proud of the results. I hope you enjoy it."

Work began in earnest in November 2008, when Pallett and Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara flew to Reykjavik to work at The Greenhouse, Valgeir Siggurdsson's studio (Björk's Medulla, Bonnie "Prince" Billy's The Letting Go) with engineer Mio Þórrison at the board. The orchestra was recorded January 2009, in Prague, with the Czech Symphony. Other guests include Matt Smith (Nifty), Reg Vermue (Gentleman Reg) and Nico Muhly. Rusty Santos, who produced Animal Collective's Sung Tongs and mixed Panda Bear's Person Pitch, was taken on as mixer.

He and Owen worked together in Toronto and New York over the summer of 2009 putting the finishing touches on Heartland.

Heartland tracklist:
1. Midnight Directives
2. Keep The Dog Quiet
3. Mount Alpentine
4. Red Sun No. 5
5. Lewis Takes Action
6. The Great Elsewhere
7. Oh Heartland, Up Yours!
8. Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
9. Flare Gun
10. E Is For Estranged
11. Tryst With Mephistopheles
12. What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

Heartland will be available on CD (WIGCD252), LP (WIGLP252) and digitally (WIG252D).

On tour with The Mountain Goats:
04/11/2009 USA Grand Rapids, MI (Ladies Literary Club - Calvin College)
05/11/2009 USA Chicago, IL (The Metro
06/11/2009 USA Madison, WI (High Noon Saloon)
07/11/2009 USA Minneapolis, MN (Cedar Cultural Centre)
10/11/2009 USA Seattle, WA (The Showbox)
11/11/2009 USA Portland, OR (The Wonder Ballroom)
14/11/2009 USA San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore)
15/11/2009 USA Los Angeles, CA (Henry Fonda Theatre)
18/11/2009 USA Austin, TX (Antone's)
19/11/2009 USA Dallas, TX (Granada Theater)
20/11/2009 USA Nashville, TN (Mercy Lounge)
21/11/2009 USA Atlanta, GA (The Variety Playhouse)
23/11/2009 USA Orlando, FL (The Social)
24/11/2009 USA St. Augustine, FL (Cafe Eleven)
27/11/2009 USA Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
28/11/2009 USA Philadelphia, PA (Theater of Living Arts)
29/11/2009 USA Boston, MA (Wilbur Theater)
01/12/2009 USA New York, NY (Webster Hall)
02/12/2009 USA Brooklyn, NY (The Bell House)

Final Fantasy will be returning to the UK and Europe for more shows in 2010.

Pitchfork claims it's a concept album and it does seem likely doesn't it! Also very cool Jeremy has been helping out with the percussion. Januari 11 can't come soon enough! I've said it before and I'll say it again: 2010 > 2009.