Heartland

Pitchfork 8.6/10 If you're lucky, you might already know this guy as Final Fantasy. His reasons for dropping that name are probably boring and copyright-related, but still: The name change seems healthy on whole other extra-legal levels. I've never known anyone not to be wowed by Final Fantasy's live show, and Final Fantasy's live show is just Owen Pallett: the guy himself, a violin, and a loop pedal. It's about as solo as anything gets-- a performance, not a project. Stepping out under his own name feels like an acknowledgement of this, as if Pallett's ready to cast aside the modesty of having a "project"-- it's just this thing I've been working on-- and present himself, fully upright, as an artist.

Clash 7/10 With two albums under his belt (as Final Fantasy), Owen Pallett’s ‘Heartland’ is definitely a step into the weird and magical.

Slant 4.5/5 With Heartland, Owen Pallett officially lays the Final Fantasy moniker to rest.

Pop Matters 8/10 “This place is a narrative mess”, Owen Pallett warns us early on in the proceedings of Heartland, his seemingly forever-in-the-works third full-length...

The Guardian 3/5 It doesn't sound in the least pastoral, and there's little need to worry about the storyline: instead, just wallow in Pallett's glorious arrangements and his fabulous melodies.