Strings Attached
Final Fantasy—a.k.a. Owen Pallett—unites soaring chamber music and indie rock for a sound that's irresistible By Joshua Ostroff
Image credit: Debra Friedman
Clad all in white, fiddle in hand, a looping pedal at his feet, Owen Pallett shyly approached the mike at the Music Hall, as the opening act for indie superstars Arcade Fire. Tentatively, quietly, the baby-faced blond layered violin lines; with a fragile choirboy croon, he sang symphonic indie ballads about same-sex love and a haunted CN Tower, closing the set with Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy.” You’d think he’d have been laughed off the stage. But his performance was so sly and sexy it was met with rapturous applause. Pallett has always trafficked in contradictions, moving seamlessly from orchestral chamber pop to indie rock to Top 40. The classically trained musician began playing piano as a toddler, and wrote his first score at age 13—for a computer game his brother designed. He’s performed with The Hidden Cameras, sung for Les Mouches and provided string arrangements for Arcade Fire, Esthero and Death From Above 1979. In 2004, he went solo, and the following year’s debut, Has a Good Home, generated underground and critical buzz (The New York Times proclaimed Pallett “The world’s most popular gay postmodern harpsichord nerd”). Geekiness has never sounded so good.
Final Fantasy plays the Hillside Festival in support of his latest album, He Poos Clouds. Festival runs July 28 to 30. $37–$57. Guelph Lake Conservation Area, Guelph, 519-763-8817, www.hillside.on.caTEST Originally published July 2006
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Strings Attached
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