Owen Pallett is a man of many talents and an astounding discography, despite a relatively small solo output. He has created string, brass and orchestral arrangements for Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, REM, Franz Ferdinand,Titus Andronicus, The National and Taylor Swift, to honestly name but a few. He worked with William Butler on the Oscar-winning score for Spike Jones' Her and he most recently collaborated with one of my ALL TIMES: Caribou.
He has scope, and this ability to be so wide is made evident in his second full length, released in April this year.
In Conflict is as epic, as it is graceful, as it is strange. It soars, and shudders, with strings and brass arcing above and bellow Pallett's sweet tenor, only for weird electronica to erupt, with contorting sounds.
There is nothing mild about this LP, the melancholy is sweeping and spellbinding, the anguish is beautiful. In opening track I Am Not Afraid, the bright vocals lament "I'll never have any children/I would bear them/And eat them/My children", in Chorale an arc-angel comes to collect him from his bed: death is here "He is a creature of song/In his voice a model of the kingdom of heaven."
It is crippling.
If you feel you need more sounds like this in your life, then check out Kishi Bashi here: multi-instrumental, but with a more pop-tastic, psychedelic lean.
Finally, Pallett is very vocal about the complexities of song writing and has written at length about why chart-topping songs work, as well as his own song writing process. It's really great stuff, check out his thoughts on Beyonce & Usher here and the music theory of Lady Gaga here. His fansite also has reams of clippings from interviews, arranged per album and per song, it's very insightful - read more here.
And now, until June...
Kate x
