Owen Pallett -- In Conflict

but now he's got even funkier beats!

The production and arrangements on this are off the hook, it reminds me a bit of Homogenic-era Bjork the way the electronic and orchestral elements meld together.

After the first couple of listens... I wish I liked his voice more, because I struggle with his delivery quite a lot and that prevents me from really loving this.

OK, wow, the CD sounds MUCH better to me than the stream I was listening to previously. I'm hearing much more sonic detail. Tracks that I didn't notice before such as "Chorale" and "Sky Behind the Flag" are really standing out now.

i like this guy's writing a little bit. don't know his music. is he a corny indie fuxor? the arcade fire associations give me pause; i have no time for that kind of music.

:D

fyi i can't rly stomach the arcade fire (no offence goon tie) but this album is fucking incredible music

does brian eno's music sound like coldplay?

what is the sound of one hand clapping if you add tons of reverb?

it is 'the sound of one hand clapping' played on Todd Glass' home stereo

that was a pretty lame reference. anyway, my point is that it doesn't sound like arcade fire, and it is worth checking out if a worry of corny indie fuxorness is keeping you away.

thanks! will do!

but be warned, i'm coming back for you if it sounds anything like arcade fire. may god have mercy on your soul.

:-o

I read all this a couple days ago and felt emotionally overwhelmed, I was tipsy and surfing and I clicked it open and cried a bunch, thank you guys.

You all know what my day job is, and I am finding it increasingly more difficult to participate in occupational artistic activity that negates my own. At the very least on a time-scheduling level, but sometimes, it feels, on a deeper ideological and political level.

But I think you can see, having listened to this album, why I took so many jobbing gigs this year... I didn't think such a blazingly queer (and emotionally direct) record was gonna get my coal this time around. Hopefully I can make it work this fall, keep this "career" sustainable. The solo stuff has felt more rewarding than ever before, on an artistic level, and I thank y'all for your votes of confidence, with both your kind words and your engaged criticism.

I wish I could press a 'like' button on ILX posts.

haha, i was going to say exactly that.

For damn sure!

goony, I dunno if i agree with you on the "blazingly queer" stuff honestly... a lot of the emotional heart of this resonates deeply in the seat of my little cis hetero brain. it's been a real keeper and in heavy rotation still; it's always exciting when you find something that keeps opening up and giving listen after listen. congratulations. it's a real lasting accomplishment methinks.

(and m@tt otm about "a warmer New Puritans")

specific = universal = specific

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/06/14/owen-pallett-in-conflict-round-68-nicks-choice/

"The way “The Riverbed” sets the tension level at ‘breaking point’ from the moment it begins and somehow manages to maintain that remarkable pitch throughout its entire length without shattering into a billion pieces or exploding into bombast"

otm

the title track has my favourite bass line of the year, so tight with the drums.

I picked up He Poos Clouds a few years ago and probably wasn't in the right place to get it - it struck me as impressive and well-conceived but not something to go back to. All the chatter on this thread made me try HPC once more, and now I keep going back to it. I listened to In Conflict for the first time last night - even more ambitious, wider palette of sound, I already think I will like it more than HPC. "The Riverbed" made the biggest impact on me on first listen.

His solo music hasn't come across my radar since undergrad, when I heard "This Is the Dream of Win and Regine". I love that song for its chorus-less journey through some very catchy phrases and great musical ideas. But the journey has some repetition, and the electronic stuff throughout tends to give the song one feel (which isn't a bad thing, I love the song). In the new album, all of these phrases and ideas seem to evolve throughout each song in a very beautiful way. The slight changes made to the melody or timing of repeated phrases are so catchy and engaging. The synth sounds and arrangements are also more varied and effective. I find myself repeating the first 4 tracks over and over just because so much is already in there.

You stand in a city
That you don't know anymore

Gets me every time

oh hey, i keep meaning to ask if an owen has ever read the obscure cities because i think of those books every time i hear that line
http://www.theobscurecities.com/home/

it's fun to listen to the live youtubes posted on the fansite because the arrangements are necessarily different. before one of the 'song for five and six' versions, he mentions that this album is not so 'loopy'. I guess that's all I meant with my post. it's not so loopy, and I really like that.

It has taken me quite some time to fully take in the multi-dimensional immensity that is this album. I shied away from reading this thread, too, knowing I would eventually come by here to share my thoughts, regardless. 'In Conflict', I feel, is a near perfect* album, a rare, all-encompassing monolith that is there with me always, looking at me, reflecting on me.

I've seen some people up here try to compare it to Heartland. Whether In Conflict ranks higher or lower. I did this at first, but it is such a futile attempt, for they truly are apples and oranges. Where Heartland, in all its beautiful glory, is a mythical tale, something to gaze at in amazement, yet from afar, as something outside of both the narrator and the creator, ’In Conflict’ is almost its diametrical opposite. It is so close, so personal, too much at times. And that is so very tricky, which is why it's even more amazing that Owen pulls it off. Narrates you into this highly personal world and makes you feel at home, too.

There is no denying that some of ’In Conflict’'s themes especially hit home so hard because I find myself dabbling with similar situations and questions, phase of life-wise. Being around the same age helps, too. I wouldn't dare call the tales of ’In Conflict’ autobiographical (as pointed out by Owen in an interview I read, and I understand why), but highly personal? Hell yes. And relatable. Not just in a ’I can see that’ kind of way, but in an ’omg yes - *cries*' kind of way.

The children theme hits home hard. I know not of another piece of music that goes through desire, grief and acceptance as emphatic and uplifting as the opener on this album.
I keep thinking of Moloch, the god of propitiatory child sacrifice, too. Referring to sacrificing something of the highest known value - a child (or ’children’), yet being offered a supreme sense of solace and acceptance for that.

I suppose that is it: hope. There is so much hope on this album, such gracious, relentless kindness, that it takes you a while to realize it really is this sincere and bare, that you aren't being fooled. The display of intimacy and honesty is just immense.

I’ll refrain from singling out songs, specific melodies, or quotes; there are so many that already are latched onto my soul for either very important reasons or no reason at all. As a whole though, this album is everything I could wish for and so much more. Compared to Heartland, it is so much more mature because it is so much more bare, inescapably honest. Both in sound, composition and lyrical themes.

I could not wish for a more beautiful new Owen Pallett album. Owen, if you are reading this, thank you so, so much. Your new album hasn't changed my life; rather has it made a whole lot of things more clear and more bearable and injected with a before severely lacking amount of hope and kindness, and done in such an immensely beautiful way, with such amazingly beautiful music. It's just two stupid words, but believe: thank you. This album has conquered my heart in so many ways already, and it's not nearly done conquering more of me.

* there is one single thing that bugs the shit out of me: those two dull chord punches at the very end, I just do not get them! For someone who so meticulously composes his music, this can't be an incident, it is planned. Yet they throw me off every single time, it feel so off, so confusing. If confusion was intended, I will gladly accept that: I have no problem being thrown off my balance beam for the sake of a shake up or confusion. But please let it not be dreaded randomness.

do all formats end that way, even though they have different closing tracks? I'd guess that it wasn't random.

Xpost, beautiful post LBI

Yeah that's a great post that sums up many of my feelings about the album so far, LBI. There's not just little phrases that strike me as I can relate (I think I'm close to Owen's age/circumstances), but little details in the instrumentation or Owen's delivery that somehow hit those same feelings. The musical version of relating to something, maybe. Almost through my third listen now and I just want to keep listening. Shame Owen's not coming to my city anytime soon because I am very curious how these songs translate to the stage.

Yes, lovely post LBI.

Thanks guys. It was just scratching the surface, not even found the right words for the compositions themselves. A mighty album.

Oh and DL, I thought you wrote a magnificent review for tQ, seeing how very hard it is to 'approach' this album in writing.

FYI fgti, every time I listen to "The Riverbed" my face melts a little more; please keep an eye out for the invoice for my medical bills

Has anyone called / texted / faxed / googled / whatever the phone number he sings, yet? I know it's short, with no area code, but does it do anything?

JESUS CHRIST YOU POSTED THAT LITERALLY 49 SECONDS BEFORE I DID

Question: has anyone tried dialling the number on The Secret Seven yet?

(Not that I think Owen has set up some secret ~Paul's Boutique~ ansaphone hijinx, but, you never know. I'm not dialling long distance to Canada to find out, though.)

I mean, I know there's an ILX hivemind sometimes but that is freaky.

Psych!

Is In Conflict going to win the end of year albums poll on here? I can kind of see it happening now.

Seeing Arcade Fire tonight. I did not even know until yesterday that Owen Pallett is opening. Talk about a pleasant surprise! This turned a 'yeah, that should be fun' show into something much more. I hope they have the 2-disc vinyl at merch.

Great show! And that includes arcade fire. I don't know what label fuckery keeps In Conflict out of the merch table, but fuck it I'll buy it online.

Also, goddamn this Santa Barbara noise ordinance. I'd rather hear Styxx's show from my bedroom at midnight and be able to see a show I'm actually interested in at an irresponsible Monday hour.

Wonderful show on Friday in Minnesota. One of the highlights was when Owen asked for any requests and someone suggested The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead. It was a lovely moment seeing him doing the first song I ever heard by him, almost 10 years ago now.

yeah I tried yelling "Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey during that part and he didn't fuckin' play it, what a shithead

I did this email exchange with Owen when the album came out for Hazlitt, it's finally online:

http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/hazlitt/feature/black-notes-owen-pallett

that was great, thanks.

that piece makes me wanna get drunk with dude

^^ totally. Thanks for sharing that.

Just got tickets for the Ottawa show on this coming weekend. Excited!