Owen Pallett

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Biography

Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979 Toronto ) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds .

Pallett is best known as a solo artist, formerly under the name Final Fantasy . Leon Taheny is also credited as drummer and engineer. Following the release of Heartland (Owen Pallett album)|Heartland , Pallett has toured with guitarist/percussionist Thomas Gill and more recently with his former collaborators in Les Mouches, Rob Gordon and Matt Smith.

Pallett has been noted for his live performances, wherein he plays the violin into a loop pedal , a technique also used by musicians such as Andrew Bird , Jeremy Larson , Emily Wells and Zoë Keating . Pallett uses Max/MSP and SooperLooper to do multi-phonic looping, which sends his violin signal to amplifiers across the stage.

Life and career

Pallett's father is an avid church organist who provided Owen with a background in classical music until his early preteens. From the age of a toddler, Owen studied classical violin and composed his first piece at age 13. A notable early composition includes some of the music for the game Traffic Department 2192 ; he moved on to scoring films, to composing two operas while in university. Apart from the indie music scene, he has had commissions from the Barbican, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can , Ecstatic Music Festival, the Vancouver CBC Orchestra, and Fine Young Classicals.

He believes his work is implicitly influenced by his sexuality, saying, "As far as whether the music I make is gay or queer , yeah, it comes from the fact that I'm gay, but that doesn't mean I'm making music about it."

Pallett received an Honours Bachelor of Music for Composition from the University of Toronto in 2002.

Patrick Borjal , Pallett's boyfriend, began working as his manager in 2006, and formed the management company Boyfriend Management.

Final Fantasy

The name Final Fantasy , under which Pallett recorded prior to the release of Heartland (Owen Pallett album)|Heartland , was a tribute to the well-known Final Fantasy|video game series , although he said that it is not one of his top twenty favorite games. http://www.youaintnopicasso.com/2006/04/18/qa-with-owen-pallett-of-final-fantasy/

Pallett's debut album, Has a Good Home , was released on February 12, 2005, by the Blocks Recording Club , a cooperative , Toronto-based record label of which he is a founding member. "An Arrow in the Side of Final Fantasy" borrows the music from the Space Zone's final level in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins . "Adventure.exe" from this album was used in a series of 2006 commercials by Orange SA|Orange in the United Kingdom. Pallett did not intend to sell the song for this purpose, but its use was authorized due to an alleged miscommunication with his record label, Tomlab . All of Pallett's income from this use is donated to Doctors Without Borders .

Pallett's second album, He Poos Clouds , was released in June 2006, though the video, directed by Jesse Ewles , was released on March 1, 2006. The album consists entirely of string quartet arrangements. Eight of the ten songs are about each of the schools of magic as described in the rules to the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game . The album was named winner of the 2006 Polaris Music Prize . Uncomfortable with receiving a prize sponsored by a mobile phone conglomerate, Pallett gave the money away to bands he liked who needed financial assistance.

On November 11, 2006, Pallett posted to a fan forum to announce a new album, tentatively titled Heartland (Owen Pallett album)|Heartland . Subsequently on July 9, 2007 on the CBC Radio One program Q (radio show)|Q , Pallett said that the album would be released no earlier than mid 2008. In the same interview he confirmed that it would be titled Heartland , and that it was an album about nothingness.

In 2007, the song "This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine" was used in a commercial for Wiener Stadtwerke without Pallett's permission. Instead of litigation, Pallett and his booking agent Susanne Herrndorf approached the company for sponsorship for a music festival of their curation. The resultant Maximum Black Festival featured Final Fantasy, The Dirty Projectors , Deerhoof , Frog Eyes , Max Tundra , Six Organs Of Admittance and others. It played Vienna, Berlin and London. In September 2007 they did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon .

In October 2007 Final Fantasy released a vinyl 7" on Tomlab's Alphabet Single series ( The Letter "X" ). The two tracks on "X", recorded in Montreal with Zach Condon, of the band Beirut (band)|Beirut ; predate the album He Poos Clouds . The tracks – "Hey Dad" and "What Do You Think Will Happen Next? " are both played regularly at live shows. The song "Hey Dad" contains a melody borrowed from the Nintendo video game " Super Mario Bros. 3 "; specifically it is the music from the "Coin Heaven" bonus/hidden stages. Also, the song is quite similar in melody, lyrics and tone to another of Pallett's songs – "?".

In March 2008, Owen Pallett under the alias Final Fantasy, collaborated with Grizzly Bear (band)|Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste on a cover of Björk 's " Possibly Maybe " as part of Stereogum|Stereogum's tribute to Björk's album, Post (Björk album)|Post .

In Fall 2008, Pallett released two EPs. The first one, Spectrum, 14th Century , was a collaboration with Beirut (band)|Beirut . The second EP, Plays To Please , found Pallett paying homage to fellow Torontonian Alex Lukashevsky , his group Deep Dark United , and his unique personality. On it, six Lukashevsky originals were reconfigured for a 35-piece big band, the Toronto-based St. Kitts Orchestra (which includes Drumheller 's Nick Fraser, Paul Mathew of the Hidden Cameras , and a whistling Andrew Bird , among others).

On December 18, 2009, Pallett announced "I am voluntarily retiring my band name" and that Heartland "will be issued under my own name, Owen Pallett" to "definitively distinguish my music from Square Enix 's games". http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/news/18-12-09/final-fantasy-name-change-to-owen-pallett/ The album was released on Domino Records on January 12, 2010. It was mixed by New York producer Rusty Santos . Also he played Primavera Sound Festival 2010. http://www.archive.org/details/OlasKoolKitchenOnRadio23OwenPalletLivePrimavera2010& reCache=1 In August 2010, Pallett announced the release of a four track EP entitled A Swedish Love Story on September 28 via Domino. http://exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx? csid1=146& csid2=844& fid1=48763

Other contributions

Pallett's previous projects included a 3-piece Toronto-based band, Les Mouches, now defunct. He also played fiddle for a short time with the celtic rock band Enter the Haggis . He was once the violinist of another Toronto band called Picastro , and briefly played keyboard in SS Cardiacs (with Leon Taheny, Jessie Stein and The Meligrove Band|Michael Small in 2005). Pallett has also recorded and toured with Jim Guthrie (singer-songwriter)|Jim Guthrie , The Hidden Cameras , Royal City (band)|Royal City , The Vinyl Cafe , Gentleman Reg , and Arcade Fire (he co-wrote the strings arrangement for their albums Funeral (album)|Funeral and Neon Bible ). One of his songs, "This Is the Dream of Win & Regine", was inspired by the principal members of the latter group, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne , and is a play on a Dntel song called, " (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan ."

Pallett contributed remixes for the bands Stars (Canadian band)|Stars , Grizzly Bear (band)|Grizzly Bear and Death from Above 1979 . He also wrote string arrangements for the Canadian bands Immaculate Machine , on their 2007 album, '' Immaculate Machine's Fables|Fables , and Fucked Up , on their 2006 album Hidden World . He also wrote the string arrangements for the Beirut (band)|Beirut album The Flying Club Cup , as well as provided vocals for the track "Cliquot". Most recently, he provided orchestration for the side project of Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner (musician)|Alex Turner and former Rascals frontman Miles Kane , as The Last Shadow Puppets , entitled The Age of the Understatement . Pallett also conducted the London Metropolitan Orchestra in the recording of this project.

In June 2009 at Luminato , Toronto's annual festival of arts and creativity, Pallett provided part of the live soundtrack for the outdoor screening (at Yonge-Dundas Square ) of the 1919 silent German horror film Tales of the Uncanny ( Unheimliche Geschichten ), alongside Canadian instrumental band Do Make Say Think and electronica music artist Robert Lippok from Berlin, Germany.

On October 17, Pallett posted on his Twitter page that he had just completed "10 days on the best album I've ever had the pleasure of working on". This was ten days after a previous comment suggesting he was in the studio with Arcade Fire, who were working on their 2010 album The Suburbs (Arcade Fire album)|The Suburbs at the time.

In 2009, Pallett worked with Win Butler and Régine Chassagne on the score for Richard Kelly (director)|Richard Kelly 's film The Box (2009 film)|The Box . Pallett was also initially set to score Rabbit Hole (film)|Rabbit Hole , a film by John Cameron Mitchell , but in the end the film was scored by Anton Sanko. Pallett also played along on several songs from the second album of The Luyas . http://www.thealternateside.org/101021/cmj_spotlight_luyas

Discography

With Les Mouches

The Polite Album (CD-R) - 2002

Blood Orgy!!! (EP) - 2003

'' You're Worth More to Me Than 1000 Christians – 2004

Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)

Studio albums

Has a Good Home (as Final Fantasy) – February 12, 2005

He Poos Clouds (as Final Fantasy) – May 15, 2006

Heartland (Owen Pallett album)|Heartland – January 11, 2010

EPs

Young Canadian Mothers – March 10, 2006

Spectrum, 14th Century – September 30, 2008

Plays to Please – October, 2008

A Swedish Love Story EP – September 28, 2010

(digital EP) – December 18, 2010

Singles

Many Lives ? 49 MP – May 29, 2006

Alphabet Series: X – October 2007

''Lewis' Dream ( Flora (margarine)|Flora Advert) – February 25, 2008

Lewis Takes Action – January, 2010

Lewis Takes Off His Shirt – March 29, 2010

Various songs

"Joys" – appears on Worried Noodles (2007), a compilation of David Shrigley 's lyrics set to music.

"Flare Gun" – appears on #8: SPAM (2007), a compilation released by Esopus (magazine)|Esopus .

" Possibly Maybe " – duet with Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear (band)|Grizzly Bear . Appears on the Stereogum compilation (2008), a tribute to Björk 's Post (Björk album)|Post .

"The Donor" – appears on Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill (2009).

"Red Sun (demo version)" – appears on Friends in Bellwoods II (2009).

" Hard to Explain " - appears on the Stereogum compilation (2011) a tribute to The Strokes debut album Is This It .

Other contributions

Year	Artist	Album	Description
2002	Jim Guthrie	Morning Noon Night
2003	Jim Guthrie	Now, More Than Ever	violins, viola, string arrangements
2003	The Hidden Cameras	The Smell of Our Own	violin, viola
2004	The Hidden Cameras	'' The Arms of His 'Ill'	viola on "Builds the Bone"
	The Hidden Cameras	Mississauga Goddam	violin, piano, celeste
	Arcade Fire	Funeral	violin, string arrangements
	Gentleman Reg	Darby & Joan	string arrangements
	Dan Goldman	Through a Revolution
	Royal City	'' Little Heart's Ease
	Death from Above 1979	Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes & B-Sides	violin on "Black History Month"
2005	Picastro	Metal Cares	viola
2005	Grizzly Bear (band)>Grizzly Bear	Horn of Plenty (The Remixes)	"Don't Ask" – Remix
2006	Grizzly Bear	Yellow House	string arrangements
2006	Fucked Up	Hidden World	string arrangements
2007	Arcade Fire	Neon Bible	orchestral arrangements, violin
	http:/ / www.thisiscmon.com/ C'mon	Bottled Lightning (of an All Time High)	string arrangements
	Great Lake Swimmers	Ongiara	string arrangements
	Beirut (band)>Beirut	The Flying Club Cup	violin, organ, vocals on "Cliquot", string arrangements
	Immaculate Machine	'' Immaculate Machine's Fables	violin
	Montag	Going Places	vocals on "Softness, I Forgot Your Name"
	Picastro	Whore Luck	piano on "Hortur", violin and organ on "All Erase"
	Holy Fuck	LP	violin on "Lovely Allen"
	Stars	Do You Trust Your Friends?	"Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" – Remix
		''There's Something We've Been Meaning to Tell You	back-up singing on "Pain Perdu", violin and piano on "Kim Rogers", guitar on "Pine Needles"
2008	http:/ / luxurypond.com/ Luxury Pond	Luxury Pond	string quartet arrangements
2008	The Last Shadow Puppets	The Age of the Understatement	arranged and conducted orchestrations
2009	The Rumble Strips	Welcome to the Walk Alone	violin, string arrangements
	Pet Shop Boys	Yes	orchestra arrangement
	The Mountain Goats	The Life of the World to Come	violin, string arrangements
	Mika	The Boy Who Knew Too Much	violin, string arrangements
2010	Arcade Fire	The Suburbs	String arrangements
	Gigi (music project)>Gigi	Maintenant	vocals on "I'll Quit"
	Diamond Rings	"Something Else" single	piano, string arrangements on " Gentleman Who Fell "
	Duran Duran	All You Need Is Now	string arrangements, conductor on "The Man Who Stole a Leopard"
2011	The Luyas	Too Beautiful to Work	strings and string arrangements
	Alex Turner	Submarine soundtrack	string arrangements on "Piledriver Waltz"
	The National	" Exile Vilify " single	strings
	Jim Guthrie	Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies	violin on "The Cloud"
	R.E.M.	Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011	orchestral arrangements on " We All Go Back to Where We Belong " and "Hallelujah"
	Snow Patrol	Fallen Empires	orchestral arrangements, conductor
2012	Linkin Park	Living Things	string arrangements on "I'll Be Gone"

Copyright Citations

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Undetermined Music Artists

Owen Pallett

Biography

Life and career

Final Fantasy

Other contributions

Discography

With Les Mouches

Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Various songs

Other contributions

References

External links

Copyright Citations