Owen Pallett -- In Conflict

Also I don't grimace at anything really (but it does feel good when people get it right)

This is wonderful! It'll certainly be my summer album.

real excited to hear this, the last one was a favorite

Oh lord! As I get older it becomes increasingly rare that an album grips me so strongly on first listen. I'm looking forward to playing this one over and over and over and over. So many emotions I feel like I'm 15 again.

i am so sad i cant go tomorrow. this best not be the last op album/european tour.

ooh i didn't know there was a london show tomorrow. v tempting even though i'm v busy.

I can say it's totally worth it just to hear "The Riverbed" live

"the riverbed" is such a jam

Love how unexpectedly synthy the album is.

Really looking forward to tomorrow night...

Only one listen in, so need time to absorb the melodies and the (surprisingly sexual!) lyrics, but I'm blown away by just how fantastic this album sounds!

"The Riverside" is a blast in every sense

Had not been paying attention, if I was in London tomorrow I would totally go, but I don't think I can be there :(

owen, this album is great

I liked what I'd prevously heard of Owen's stuff, but J was playing this in the car and I found myself... "transfixed" is the best word I can come with. Holy moley, this is some serious shit.

(Parenthetically - Does anyone else feel like he tends to tuck his vocals into the mix quite a bit, compared to a lot of singers? I noticed, on both this and Heartland, that the voice is mixed more as one part of the arrangement, rather than being waaaaay out front as is usually the case for a lead vocal. Not complaining - just observatating.)

huh, never put the gt thing together. more you know.

haven't heard the album, but the tracks linked are uniformly gorgeous, especially, well, it's hard to say cuz each sounds like the best while i'm listening to it. and then i listen to another.

ugh, this is so good, one after another

AOTY

yeah this is scaling heights where such pronouncements become plausible

am trying to wangle myself a ticket for tonight, wd be good to see it all performed

yeah, this is wonderful. v. sad i was out of town for the boston show last weekend.

really digging soldiers rock and chorale in addition to those already mentioned.

that quasi-happy hardcore/drum'n'bass song towards the end is out of this world.

I am no longer afraid, the truth doesn't terify u-us...

Like, I didn't even know I liked that song, but then I couldn't stop humming that part, didn't even remember what it was. This is gonna creep up on me. This is very good.

logrolling a pallett

My friend is at the London show right now. So jealous. He just bought the new album there too.

When does it release?

It's out on Monday.

song for five & six is an olallieberry level jam

Holy shit that was incredible. The entire songwriting and layering process, revealed with such elegance! An orchestra of Pallett, all rousing, thrumming cavalcades of emotion. Was also lovely to meet the man himself. Overcome, really. Some of those songs won't leave my head.

Unnecessary post: this album is, of course, fabulous.

It really was a wonderful concert. Also a great pleasure to meet Owen in person. Hopefully we'll see you back in London soon.

We sadly failed to meet each other! Ah well. There will be other concerts.

Were you wearing a dark grey shirt, by any chance?

Very dark green, short sleeves, black flower pattern, could have been mistaken for grey. Far too much hair. I was looking out for you too!

Next time!

wait you wore a hair shirt

to compensate for being treated to such awesome music, probably should have

also, I think this album might just bring all of ILX together - I can't think of a single taste that would exclude it

Only disappointing thing about tonight was buying the vinyl and not being able to download the MP3s until Monday :(

Otherwise it was great!

also, I think this album might just bring all of ILX together - I can't think of a single taste that would exclude it

― verhzleyavbtreleambreb (imago)

Lex?

don't be foolish, lex will eat this shit up whole

I was going to say.

so mad i couldn't make it. i'll have to finish off everything i ever have to do before the next time he comes around.

Goon when when when are you coming back to Aus, gah! :)

almost thru my NPR-sanctioned first listen... I wasn't paying attention, did he just rhyme "Percocet" with "turtleneck"?

"The Riverbed" is way good, none of the other songs stuck with me except the one with the "compassion" refrain, but I'm sure that will change... in the meantime, I'm loving the complexity of the synth textures. should be plenty of fun headphone-fodder to keep me from getting bored once I know all the melodies by heart :)

Lex could go either way on this, depending on whether he finds it too precious/indie/art-school.

From memory he dislikes Patrick Wolf, who obv isn't a perfect fit but you could imagine similar objections being made to both.

when we reviewed owen over at TSJ back c. Heartland, Lex was... Lex-ian. "all ornamentation and no substance" etc.

but whatever who cares because you all get to hear this album now and i can stop holding back from raving about how beautiful it is.

hell I'm still not crazy about Heartland.

I relistened for the sake of a long review I filed a couple days ago, and it confirmed what I suspected after I heard "On a Path" for the first time: he's recording his best music now.

my standouts are probably 'Soldier's Rock', 'The Sky Behind the Flag', 'Song for Five & Six' and 'I Am Not Afraid'

but all "standouts" really means in this context is "things that have emerged as distinct musical things in my mind rather than part of the larger album" not a statement of quality? like, in a 'this would work as a single' way. and every track has perfect details and turns of phrase and melody and synth patches that get caught in my brain at unexpected moments.