Michael James Owen Pallett-Plowright[1] (born September 7, 1979), known professionally as Owen Pallett, is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their former pseudonym Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds. Pallett is also known for their contributions to Arcade Fire, having toured with the band and been credited as an arranger and instrumentalist on each of their studio albums. In January 2014, Pallett and Arcade Fire member William Butler were nominated for Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards for their original score of the film Her (2013).
From the age of 3, Pallett studied classical violin, and composed their first piece at age 13. A notable early composition includes some of the music for the game Traffic Department 2192; Pallett moved on to scoring films, to composing two operas while in university. Apart from the indie music scene, Pallett has had commissions from the Barbican, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Ballet of Canada, Bang on a Can, Ecstatic Music Festival, the Vancouver CBC Orchestra, and Fine Young Classicals. They have been noted for their live performances, wherein Pallett plays the violin into a loop pedal; Pallett uses Max/MSP and SooperLooper to do multi-phonic looping, which sends their violin signal to amplifiers across the stage.
Pallett's debut album, Has a Good Home,[7] was released on February 12, 2005, by the Blocks Recording Club, a cooperative, Toronto-based record label of which Pallett 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 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 their record label, Tomlab.[citation needed] 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.[8] Uncomfortable with receiving a prize sponsored by a mobile phone conglomerate, Pallett gave the money away to bands they liked who needed financial assistance.[9]
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 their 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 July 2007, Pallett was interviewed on the CBC Radio One program Q, about their upcoming album, to be titled Heartland, which was to have a theme of nothingness.[10] 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, 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'sEd Droste on a cover of Björk's "Possibly Maybe" as part of Stereogum's tribute to Björk's album Post.[11] On their Final Fantasy releases, Pallett has collaborated with Leon Taheny, who is credited as drummer and engineer.
In Fall 2008, Pallett released two EPs. The first one, Spectrum, 14th Century, was a collaboration with Beirut. The second EP, Plays to Please, was a tribute to fellow Torontonian Alex Lukashevsky and his group Deep Dark United. 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).[12]
In December 2009, Pallett began performing and recording under their own name. The album Heartland was released on Domino Records on January 12, 2010. It was mixed by New York producer Rusty Santos. Also Pallett played Primavera Sound Festival 2010.[13] In August 2010, Pallett released a four track EP entitled A Swedish Love Story on September 28 via Domino. The tracks received substantial airplay on community radio.[14] Following the release of Heartland, Pallett has toured with guitarist/percussionist Thomas Gill[15] and more recently with Rob Gordon and Matt Smith, their former collaborators in Les Mouches.[16]
On November 12, 2012, Pallett tweeted that they had been working on a new album called In Conflict.[17] The album, their fourth full-length recording, was released May 27, 2014.[18]
In live performances, Pallett plays the violin into a loop pedal. Pallett uses Max/MSP and SooperLooper to do multi-phonic looping, which sends their violin signal to amplifiers across the stage.[19]
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, alongside Canadian instrumental band Do Make Say Think and German electronica artist Robert Lippok.[22]
Pallett, Owen (2014). "When I Come Home". In Wilson, Carl (ed.). Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. pp.267–269. ISBN978-1-4411-6677-7.
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References
↑ Symonds, Alexandria (May 23, 2014). "Owen Pallett's Disorientalism". Interview. Brant Publications, Inc. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
↑ Saccoccio, Sabrina (February 24, 2007). "Oh, those crazy artistes, who make a virtue of life in the 'burbs: Not everyone needs downtown hotel bars to make art". The Globe and Mail. Toronto ON. p.M4.
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