Album Review: Owen Pallett - Heartland

Owen Pallett, who before this album released music through the name Final Fantasy, and did the arrangements for such luminaries as Arcade Fire and Beirut, still hasn’t lost his bizarre touch, despite the name change. His lyrics are as literate and dense as ever (and it has to be said, jarring in their occasional awkwardness), and his album’s concept (it’s a science fiction record about the nature of artistic creation) are as idiosyncratic as some of his previous work. Heartland however contains some of Pallett’s best music, a chamber-pop extravaganza which ought to collapse underneath its own earnestness, but contains plenty of excitement in Pallett’s off-the-wall arrangements and pop sensibilities. By freeing himself from the baggage of being known for his arrangements for famous bands and his computer game name, Pallet has made the most expansive and thrilling album of his career, and the album is an early highlight of 2010.

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