Concert Review: Owen Pallett at the Black Cat

Owen Pallett

The Black Cat

April 15th, 2010

Owen Pallett had a cold during his show on Thursday night at the Black Cat’s mainstage. Nobody noticed until he said something—after his thirteenth song.

Nobody noticed he was onstage, either, at first. Though I’ll admit I was shamelessly scoping out the wiry, gangly must-be-a-roadie with asymmetrical hair and a black wife-beater, I couldn’t be sure that this man would start playing the violin after standing there, tuning said violin and staring unassumingly into the crowd for at least 10 minutes. But suddenly, we were off!

Pallett is one of those musicians an audience automatically takes to, based purely on the fact that he is having just as much fun performing as they are watching. And he’s quite impressive to watch—his songs use rapid-fire looping and layering (kind of like what my talentless self can do on this website, but unlike many other musicians who use a similar approach, 100% of the sound sound in many of his songs originate simply from him and a violin.

Review: Owen Pallett, Heartland

 

 Owen Pallet

 Heartland  

A+

When I was first introduced to Owen Pallett, he was called Final Fantasy. The only way my boyfriend could seem to describe Owen (Final?) to me was as “some guy who loves the Final Fantasy video games and has a violin – he’s a one man band.” So when I first listened to He Poos Clouds I was expecting something akin to all of the teenage girls on YouTube who do tone-deaf Paramore covers. What I got was so much more. It was strange and sad and oddly campy. In short, it was perfect. Owen Pallett’s new album Heartland is the foil pair to his previous album; instead of the melancholy undertones that typify He Poos Clouds, Heartland is an album that puts a skip in your step.

With tracks like “Lewis Takes Action” and “E Is For Estranged” you get the sense that Owen has taken epic movie music and narrated his lyrics over it. In effect, he makes a soundtrack for your life. Suddenly walking to coffee is an adventure; walking up the Lau steps seems more like triumphantly climbing a mountain. The music seems familiar – but not trite.

Owen has certainly grown up from his phase as a videogame-obsessed man with a violin and has moved from “pooing” clouds to making you feel like you’re running on them. Certainly an A+ in my book.

-- Alyson Promes