In Conflict
An Oscar nomination (along with Arcade Fire) for Best Original Score for Spike Jonze’s 2013 film *Her* ensures that Pallett is more confident and daring on the second studio album under his own name. Recorded in Montreal with the core rhythm section of Robbie Gordon and Matt Smith—with integral contributions from Brian Eno and the Czech FILMharmonic Orchestra—the album was written and produced by Pallett. It flows smoothly from orchestral pop confections to serious incidental music, underpinning Pallett’s many talents. “I Am Not Afraid” and the title track suggest serious emotional dissonance. But even when things are dire, Pallett finds ways to counterpoint with the bright and airy arrangement of “On a Path.” Like many of the album’s best pieces, it\'s a dazzling use of instrumental space and vocal technique. The textbook synth arpeggios of “Song for Five & Six” are transcended by Pallett’s silken vocals, which reveal even more on “The Secret Seven,” which makes room for a sublime string arrangement in its midst. For spiritual depth, “The Passions” offers an eerie moment of introspection.
Since abandoning his Final Fantasy guise to make music under his own name, Owen Pallett's treated his work like a logic maze; on his latest, which features contributions from Brian Eno, he steps free of his own labyrinth, resulting in his most pleading and open vocal performances.
Owen Pallett has always walked an unusual path between the classical and the modern. His songs use strings and orchestral instrumentation to suggest pop symphonies, but Pallett loops and twists those sounds into endless repetition, suggesting the world of electronic music. Melodies emerge fitfully, sometimes on the…
Abstract electronic elements dancing playfully around lush orchestral arrangements, Owen Pallett delivers an album worth the four year wait.
Suggesting that a work of art “wrestles with the human condition” has been a trope in arts criticism for at least as long…
The second studio album to be released under his own name, Owen Pallett's In Conflict, despite its antagonistic title, sounds like the culmination of all of his previous guises (Final Fantasy, Arcade Fire string arranger, Oscar-nominated co-writer of the score to 2013's Her), and while it may peer into the abyss (at least thematically), it's as cathartic and engaging a collection of songs as he's committed himself to thus far.
Owen Pallett has had a good year—he helped Arcade Fire compose the score to the film Her, and he's embarked with the band on a globe-trotting arena tour for Reflektor.
Canadian Oscar nominee Pallett mixes classical and baroque pop to fine effect, even if he does try too hard at times, writes <strong>Paul Mardles</strong>
Review of 'In Conflict' by Owen Pallett, the album comes out on March 27 on Secret City records in Canada and the 28th in Europe on Domino Records
On this beautifully euphoric, deeply personal piece of work, Pallett manages to strike the perfect art/pop balance, writes <strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>