Owen Pallett -- In Conflict

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.

i still love Heartland a whole lot but this has the potential to overtake it in my affections.

the live band arrangements are a wholly different beast at times and filled with violence and life and destruction. (soldier's rock, especially.)

OMG I forgot Eno sings on this as well. This is really really good on a first listen (well exept the already released tracks ive already hammered)

London show last night was lotsa fun. Hyped to get the new LP early too :-)

yeah, fantastic gig last night. Could have done with Owen's vocals a tad higher in the mix imo.

So many ILXors last night :D thanks guys for coming!

S/O to the pilled up Spanish brothers in front of me who fist pumped for the entire duration of the gig.

also to the middle aged ladies doing interpretative fan dances near the back, was loving their work :-)

listened with headphones a few times (highly recommended), and currently going through my first blasting through loudspeakers listening.

the title cut is such a jam. the verses are catchier than almost all choruses, and the minimal bass lines are killer throughout

Finally got round to listening to the vinyl version of this (treated myself to the 2xLP last week). It sounds so great. I don't normally pay too much attention to that sort of thing, but I want to play this loud (but don't think my neighbours would appreciate that at this time of night...)

So I had some quick thoughts and all:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/in-conflict-20140527

as do I! http://www.spin.com/reviews/owen-pallett-in-conflict/

you can tell there was a lot of work done on making this look and sound amazing on the vinyl version - it's truly excellent

"The Passions" is real nice

THIS FUCKING ALBUM

i would like to echo dan's enthusiasm as i finally listened to the record while reading the lyric sheet this afternoon

essentially this album is more devastating than i even initially thought

I can't remember the last time I was so excited to hear an album with the lyric sheet in hand.

not since I heard Discreet Music.

this is great
the only recent album that it kind of reminds me of is these new puritans
just in terms of balancing indie rock songwriting and odd modern classical arrangements and composition
which i mean as a compliment! i love TNP and this is great
but if you guys don't agree i will retract my statement instead of argue

this isn't really chilly though, it's more emotional
TNP is kind of chilly like Talk Talk (in feel)

Just got my vinyl through the post. Domino did well getting it here on the day of release. It looks beautiful and is sounding fantastic. Have only listened to the NPR stream once, wanted to wait until I got my actual copy to hear it again.

the albums i associate most with it so far don't resemble it musically but maybe formally? so i get the tnp comparison. for instance, maybe because owen's been talking about tori a lot, i've been thinking of this record in conjunction with under the pink, this really expansive vision fit into these skewed pop songs. or shiina ringo's karuki samen no kuri hana which is a similar kind of interior pop with gorgeous diversions

shiina ringo comparison is crazily apt, great pick-up

solid nyt review today
i feel like this is the one that dude rides to HIPSTER STATUS and yay

And here's his fancy new site:

http://www.owenpalletteternal.com/

Apparently In Conflict is 50 minutes and 90 seconds long, lol

As I said elsewhere in strict resemblance terms the album I'm reminded of most is Coloma's Finery.

But I really feel Brad's Under The Pink comparison. "Pretty Good Year" totally fits the narrative except it's in second/third person rather than first. Also "The Riverbed" = "Cornflake Girl" / "The Passions" = "Icicle".

I'm only fairly familiar with Amos's work but for me I'm hearing a fair bit of Hounds of Love in here - especially in the way the string and orchestral arrangements meet with the synth-led stuff.

btw not that i necessarily need to compare owen's great, individual record to even more things but imo this year's analogue for this record is meshell ndegeocello's

"The Passions" is real nice

― macklin' rosie (crüt), Tuesday, May 27, 2014 12:05 PM (11 hours ago)

it's such a sad song, isn't it? I was at his Boston show, and he announced it as "a friendly reminder that death is hanging over us" or something to that effect. the lyrics aren't particularly depressing (bittersweet nostalgia + Smiths) but his delivery is so mournful that it's hard not to want to parse it for darker subtexts. it's chilling the way it glides so seamlessly from synth to string section and back again.

I wish one person would step into this thread and trash this album to dispel the appearance of sycophantism. this lovefest is really getting out of hand!

(but I think this album is great so idk)

my considered opinion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPcLaO4ey4g

haw

it's up on spotify, yay