owen pallett - island (2020)

Yeah, lovely album.

this is extremely beautiful

it's a beautiful, windy summer morning after a sudden overnight storm. feels like appropriate weather.

I was about to describe some of the string arrangements (the bits that feel like the ring modulator bit of Lewis Takes Action) as Grisey-esque but then thought twice because I only listen to one piece of music by him and deleted the post... but maybe they are Grisey-esque.

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/owen-pallett-surprise-releases-new-album-island-tells-us-about-the-music-that-influenced-it/

thanks for that, looks like we were all correct in our guesses so far - Nick Drake, Buffy Sainte-Marie :)

video for "A Bloody Morning" from that link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Tvi4v_j0M&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfjtI_72VmQ

going back to the orchestral performance of the first part of the album from a few years ago to compare is really interesting

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/island/1509744953

the track-by-track notes in the editors notes section here is fascinating too

this is a beautiful record

Excited to get this, just watched the video for 'A Bloody Morning' and oof, the feels.

the guitars! It's a perfect May-in-Florida album.

Stunning record, especially the parts that have a hint of Talk Talk.

of all the days to be at home trying to frantically prep a presentation my boss has to give in 2.5 hours (that I just learned of 30 minutes ago) while also waiting on workers to come fix my bathtub ;_;

Snowy Gets Fucked By a Plumber

i've spent all day listening to this record and it's so immense, maybe even better than heartland

the strings (the playing, and the arrangements) on this are incredible. On "Paragon of Order" I get the sense of Angela Morley or Jean-Claude Vannier; not just on that song, but its opening is the one that's set me on edge.

Been waiting all day to listen, going to absorb the whole thing during a long walk.

good music to make gazpacho too

how badly i wish for it /
that we can be angels and not this bullshit

god i cant wait to listen

Oh it is stunning. Paragon of Order and A Bloody Morning really hit me on the first listen, but it’s all so immediate tbh. The sequencing, the arrangements, everything is really effective at making you visualise the film of it.

"paragon of order," jesus

Thanks for the kind words, you guys, I really appreciate it :')

It's wonderful

Sound of the Engines hits me hard.

I am a wound unhealing.

the sequencing is so good

listening now. love how gradually this is building

godkiller's alive!

I thought they were fucked into space

just cracking it, "Transformer" is lovely.

Are there loads of motific references to <i>Heartland</i> in the orchestral arrangements? I can't actually put my finger on them, but it <i>feels</i> like there are.

ugh square brackets

I’m just keeping up with all the albums released this week but I can safely say this one and Moodymann might be the best ones imho. The long hiatus was worth it.

Are there loads of motific references to <i>Heartland</i> in the orchestral arrangements? I can't actually put my finger on them, but it <i>feels</i> like there are.

― in twelve parts (lamonti),

I haven’t read any interviews or reviews yet so I don’t know if it’s on purpose but every movement here seems to reference his past albums in some way? Movement three would be the Spectrum - Heartland era. The overall feeling I get is that every movement represents a progressive evolution in Owen’s sound. Like a career revision.

I might be off but that was my first impression.

another day of listening to this a lot and it's absolutely my favourite thing he's ever done

me too

also i do like that band versions of two songs are thrown on the end as a nice extra but i entirely agree that the album versions are a much better fit (and i prefer them in isolation too, otherworldly strings 4eva)

i really adore the alternate "fire-mare" but it wouldn't have worked as well on the album for the obvious reasons. the alternate "paragon of order" isn't bad but it's missing that melody that comes in at about 3:44 which is my favourite thing on the album version

I'm they/them these days <3

A few people have been mentioning movements and I didn't get it, until I blinked and looked at the track listing and was like "oh the segues look like the beginnings of movements" lol. The album is divided in four but the instrumental segues are not the dividers, the sides are. A: 1-5, B: 6-9, C: 10-13, D: 14-15

The alt versions were originally to fill the fourth side-- I cut three songs pretty early on but hadn't figured out how to keep the album a double. I got really attached to the alt versions in the sequence, it works, it sounds to my ears like "In Darkness" is the final scene and the alt versions are the closing credits

ah were those cut songs from when you were talking about it as being ~70 minutes long? the alt versions do work really well at the end like that, which is rare for those sort of bonus tracks

side C is an absolute hell of a side. i mean they all are. but that one my god

Yeah, it was a full 74 minutes. I finished that version in MIDI form in February 2017, circulated to friends, got mixed-positive feedback ("it's great but the demos are better") and so in 10 days I cut it down to 50 minutes and integrated the demo ideas. ("Fucked" for example, didn't have guitar on the MIDI version, it was more like the video from 2015.) Two of those cut songs have been deleted. One of them ("Vengeance") was originally gonna need a choir and I messaged DJP about it! But the songs didn't fit, they've been deleted. The other one ("Oh Bishop") is gonna be released somehow at some point but I'm basically taking Greg's drum parts on it and starting from scratch

i recall you telling me about Oh Bishop! send it to an ILM compilation lol

the overlapping vocal melodies on "fire-mare," ahhhhhhhh

i love this record

couldn't tell you whether i love heartland, in conflict, or this more, prob depends on the day

fire-mare may have surpassed oh heartland up yours as my fav op song

I'm in love with this record. Must have played it eight times yesterday and today, and it unfolds and shares something of its secret every time. It's stunning, and so intimate. I'd hate to use the word 'subdued', because there's fire in the belly of this record, but it creeps up on you way more than that it sets you alight.

I think both 'versions' work really well on the record actually, like encores of two very important pieces of the record. 0P gone done it again, damn. <3

I just began listening to this and the ice cream truck rolled down my street with its sorta broken jingle playing and I wasn't sure it wasn't part of the recording.

as i listen to this i realize how much of the last 10 years i have spent trying to sing like owen

polar vortex is in fuckin 9/8 time and its so pretty

Just saw "Greg's drum parts" and excitedly googled to confirm that that's Greg Fox (whose LP release I'm really looking forward to next month). Hope that unreleased song sees the light of day!

... I still need to listen to the new album. Gonna switch off Merle Haggard after this song and do that :)

I’m still sad that collaboration didn’t work out but the album is incredible. Congrats, fgti

i cannot swim in a certain slant of light

Feel very much like I should buy the most lavish bonus-encrusted version available

https://www.dominomusic.com/releases/owen-pallett/island/exclusive-limited-double-lp?fbclid=IwAR2uFkAd63CtyZhpnBcl-QcKfdocOu1_F1zhX3dj_kfulP8l_Gjr-vFll7c Bonus-encrusted version here

New video, too, if you please. Eric Kostiuk Williams is the BEST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny0tDu4qVgI

wow that's quite something! both videos from this album have been really so great. did you commission roughly what visual storyline you wanted from Eric (beyond the initial scenario) or was it all his interpretation?

holy fuck i LOVE EK William, what a great collabo! He's a lovely lovely human in the scant time i had meeting him too; so nice to see the two of you connected.

further reference: https://www.instagram.com/kostiukwilliams/

The first artist I thought of when listening to "A Bloody Morning": John Cale.

I can't wait for you guys to see the second video (on Monday!) it's so, so great, Eric is great. imago, the videos were storyboarded by Eric and I both. The final shot of "Paragon" was the result of the two of us talking enthusiastically about the zoom-out shot on Kylie Minogue's video for "Slow"

The first artist I thought of when listening to "A Bloody Morning": John Cale.

Yep, definitely, it sounds like Wrong Way Up. Rollie told me the other day that he thought I picked the wrong first single, and I really agree-- "A Bloody Morning" was always meant to be a "deep cut", a kind of cathartic moment in the middle of a more subdued album. We ended up using it regardless because of how strong the video turned out.

TSJ covered "A Bloody Morning" and it received the second-highest score of the year! http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=29609

(on Monday!)

oh here it is!! so the three best tracks off Island (imo) all have videos now :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHks5ssvsgI

spectacular obv

TSJ otm, everyone go vote etc

It is extremely moving to read such generous and invested responses to that song, I am tearing up a lot over here

TSJ score well deserved!

I say this every time I see his reviews but I've played soccer with Vikram Joseph and he's the loveliest

Lovely takes on the song, one by one, and very otm (and deserved).

Out now streaming, somehow i didn't know Owen did this score!
https://pitchfork.com/news/arcade-fire-and-owen-pallett-releasing-her-score-for-the-first-time/

Physical formats of this are out in April.

Very happy to be able to pick Islands up on vinyl. It's sounding glorious this afternoon.

"the box" when

xpost to myself that obviously should be just Island. I was getting XX confusion.

the music in On the Count of Three is so good, didn't realize til the credits that it's an OP score

I heard a tiny instrumental snippet in a NPR bumper (aka 'button') and spent a couple minutes trying to figure out where it came from. After determining the music was from this album I relistened to all of it again. It's as brilliant as I remembered it being -- but now all the songs are stuck in my head 24/7, causing every thought and feeling to be filtered through meloncholia. Sleeping is also rather difficult.

But damn songs like Transformer and The Sound Of The Engines...

yeah, this is their best, i firmly believe. if they're fine with being ranked, lol

they should stop working on bad movies and do another album!!!!!!!

Wonderful concert tonight, my first time seeing them live in over 14 (! fuck !) years. Old faves aside, the tracks from Island really do shine live, "Fire-Mare" especially, brought me to tears!