Canada’s Owen Pallet aka Final Fantasy aka friend of our beloved SparklyWolf is one of those in Camp Troubadour that never really got the attention he should have from me. In fact, I recall Hacks and I, a few years back, watching the video for “This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine” excitedly (particularly at the ill-fitting indiemotive “this is real rock” scream that comes from nowhere other than Owen’s overflowing heart as the song ends), only to discover his full catalog to be a bit, um, offputting, where “offputting” means “not at all expecting low-fi garage violin baroque”.
Flash forward to now, when I am obviously raging against the dying of the pretty, getting to a point where every mention of Dude’s Dance Party causes my most-immediate claws-n-fangs reaction (and, NO, “claws-n-fangs” is NOT the name of some new Simian side project, though I’ll sell you that one for free), and Owen’s pretty, lo-fi but highly technical soaring strings are like a salve. Time= perspective, folks, time=perspective.
Anyway, again our friends at Wordsmiths Books in Decatur (that’s Georgia, you Sufjanians) have nailed down an ideal indie in-store for their high-ceilings and marble marvelousness-next Tuesday, November 6th, at 4 P.M. The shin-dig is free, all-ages and probably going to be very much an intimate sort of thing, so getting there early to snap up some free parking is highly recommended.
Since everyone, including Southern Voice and Wordsmiths own blog, seems to be painting with the palette of Pallett (ooh, journo high five! HIGH. FIVE.!), I thought I’d decorate your Friday afternoon with a few choice Final Fantasy tunes.
Final Fantasy: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
There’s a lot of love, both spoken and silent, aroundabout these parts for Stars. Their first album didn’t shake our roof, but the new one is absolutely splendid, and certain to be a part of any 2007 top whatev. This is from Do You Trust Your Friends, the collection that involved Stars handing out turns at their Set Yourself On Fire tunes. Pallett wraps himself around and into the original album’s kickoff track, keeping that so-necessary sample and actually using it to (pardon the pun, I don’t want this and neither do you) fire up the whole song. It’s a bit more lush than what you may expect from Owen’s studio stuff under the FF moniker, but it’s that much better for it.
Final Fantasy: Fantasy (live Mariah Carey cover)
Can I tell you how awesome this is? Oh, no need, you’re going to click out of sheer curiosity and then just fall, droolingly maddeningly deeply in love with the way Owen treats Mimi’s TomTom-snatching original with coolhighharmonious bliss.
This would be as opportune of a time as any for my plea to bring Mariah back to acceptable cool-there was a great remix of “Emotions” that surfaced early last year, and it made some small-ish round, but, really, “Daydream”, “Fantasy” (partic the ODB version, whose part here, unfortunately, is not played by one Patrick Wolf), “Emotions”…that was some good, good stuff.
If you need a touch of the orchestral, again: Final Fantasy at Wordsmiths Books, 141 E Trinity Place in Decatur, GA next Tuesday (the 6th of Nov) at 4 P.M.
Pleasantly surprised, I thought I’d hate this.