Currently out on tour with Owen Pallett (dates below), the wonderful Snowblink have put together a video for the song Ambergris with their friend Terri Loewenthal. Ambergris is taken from the album Long Live which is still officially unreleased, though if you like the song, and you will, you can buy it here.
If you were to tell me you’d heard a more beautiful song today, I’d probably call you a liar…
Owen Pallett is the man behind the strings on Arcade Fire’s albums, The Last Shadow Puppets and Suitcase Orchestra favourite Luxury Pond. He’s also just released the excellent Heartland album and has kindly completed the Suitcase Orchestra Q&A.
If I were to play just one of your songs to someone who hasn’t heard your music, which would it be and why?
Couldn’t say, really. I always like to discover music on my own accord, so I’m hesitant to play my own shit for people.
You are being sent to the moon. You’re allowed to take 1 album. What is it?
Tomita’s album of Debussy pieces seems suitable.
What was the last album you bought?
I bought Vampire Weekend last weekend because I liked the album cover.
Tell us an interesting fact.
Anne Murray has a daughter named Dawn Langstroth. If she and Dave Longstreth had a son, his name could be Dan Langstroth-Longstreth.
Tell us about a band or singer we might not have heard of who should be featured on Suitcase Orchestra.
Larkin Grimm is really pushing all my buttons lately. She has a concert up on NYCTaper that is a must-listen.
What film would you be a character in?
Ennh, probably Richard E Grant in something.
Recommend a book.
Haven’t been reading anything heavy lately, mostly Kingsley Amis, it’s great on tour.
What’s the worst record in your collection?
I stopped grading records.
What question should I always ask in a Q & A? And answer it please.
Owen Pallett will release Lewis Takes Off His Shirtas the first single from his recent album,Heartland, on March 29th.
Lewis Takes Off His Shirt, features Owen’s trademark looped violin and vocals augmented by the Czech Symphonic Orchestra and comes very close to Pallett’s stated aim of ‘putting so many notes on the page that the paper turned black’, with its layers of electronica, strings and flute which build to an ecstatic crescendo
Simon Bookish has remixed album track Keep The Dog Quiet which is available as a free download here.
Following his recent show at the Union Chapel in London, Owen Pallett will return to the UK and Ireland for a handful of dates in March with support on all shows except for Dublin coming from Next Life.
Even if you’ve never heard of him, you will have heard him. Owen Pallett is the man behind the strings on both of the Arcade Fire albums; he wrote the huge Scott Walker-esque musical backdrop to the Last Shadow Puppets’ album and has worked with The Hidden Cameras, The Pet Shop Boys and Mika, amongst others. His name first quite literally struck a chord here when he orchestrated one of Suitcase Orchestra’s Top 10 Albums of 2009 Luxury Pond’s eponymous album.
While hiding in the sleeve notes of these other albums, Pallett has previously released two of his own albums using the name Final Fantasy, Has A Good Home and the less than brilliantly titled He Poos Clouds. For this album, he has ditched the Final Fantasy moniker and is just plain old Owen Pallett.
The orchestration, recorded with the Czech Symphony in Prague, is very much in evidence here, though rarely in a straightforward form. Strings and horns are looped, chopped up and generally messed about with to make a gloriously unconventional pop record but one which never strays into avant-garde territory or ever becomes less than very listenable.
Keep The Dog Quiet comes over as a Faithless track, stripped of the drums, it’s pulsing use of strings acting as its own rhythm section. Elsewhere, Red Sun No.5 sounds like a reconstructed Pet Sounds era Beach Boys song while Lewis Takes Off His Shirt comes very close to Pallett’s stated aim of ‘putting so many notes on the page that the paper turned black’, with its layers of electronica, strings and flute which builds and builds to an ecstatic crescendo.
The Lewis in question is the narrator of the album, a young ultra-violent farmer in the fictional world of Spectrum. As I said, it’s a very unconventional pop record.
Heartland by Owen Pallett is available now on Domino.
Owen Pallett is the man behind the strings on Arcade Fire’s albums, The Last Shadow Puppets and Suitcase Orchestra favourite 
Owen Pallett will release Lewis Takes Off His Shirt as the first single from his recent album, Heartland, on March 29th.
