Alpentine

New song / Smugglers Way / I'm (Not) Afraid of Japan

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:30:45 -0400

Last night, after joining Jim Guthrie for a song on violin (which was arranged by Owen Pallett back in 2003), Owen debuted a new song with Rob Gordon and Matt Smith. Here's a description of the song, which, as expected, is pretty different from previous styles. From this show, there's also an audio recording of "Tryst with Mephistopheles" at Mechanical Forest Sound.

The flexi zine Smugglers Way by Domino Records, released today on Record Store Day, contains a page of sheet music by Owen. Titled "In Xs", it's an arranged mashup of "In C" by Terry Riley and "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS.

Digital Convenience has photos of Owen Pallett, Perfume Genius, Bradford Cox, and others in Japan from February.

Progressive Progessions wrote a musical analysis of "Took You Two Years to Win My Heart".

Violin Concerto reviews / Anonymous 4 recording / Linkin Park

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:34:42 -0400

Reviews of the March 16 concert with Nico Muhly: The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, musicOMH, Bachtrack, Thumped.

Photo by David Andrako

NPR posted an 89-minute recording of the March 24 concert by The Mountain Goats and Anonymous 4 (new Mountain Goats songs arranged by Owen Pallett).

Owen filled in for a member of Anonymous 4 on April 2. Reviews: Consequence of Sound, I Care if You Listen.

Owen arranged strings for the song "I'll Be Gone" on the upcoming Linkin Park album. Singer Chester Bennington told Spin, "He's incredible. You send him notes and he's immediately like, 'I just sent you the track. Like, five minutes ago. It's done.'"

The Songsmith's Heartland (comic)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:19:47 -0500

"The Songsmith's Heartland" is a webcomic illustrated by Nick Thornborrow, based on the album "Heartland" by Owen Pallett. A young farmer named Lewis lives a restless existence, until he's called upon by The Songsmith to become the hero of Heartland. All too eager to fulfill his destiny, Lewis takes up the sword, slaying monsters and spreading the word of The Songsmith. But as Lewis becomes the object of The Songsmith's infatuation, he is unable to ignore the fact that he's just a character in The Songsmith's narrative. Heartland and the entire world of Spectrum stand in balance as the unhinged warrior confronts the eccentric artist who created him.

A new page will be published every Monday and Friday, starting February 6. Subscribe!

Violin Concerto

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:15:15 -0500

Owen Pallett's violin concerto is now co-commissioned by the Barbican Centre and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with dates on March 16, 2012 and March 7, 2013 respectively. The concerto is "inspired by the solo violin music of Bach." Pekka Kuusisto will be the soloist.

New photos / Snow Patrol / animal tweets

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:01:58 -0500

Michael Silverman has uploaded a Flickr photoset of a songwriters workshop with Worden/Pallett/Muhly/Dessner at Stanford. David Lang explained why he picked these four musicians for his latest work.

Snow Patrol did a track-by-track commentary on their new album with arrangements by Owen Pallett.

There's a novelty Tumblr called Animals Tweeting as Owen Pallett... perfect timing for Owen's new snowshoe hare.

Guthrie / tattoo / Bieber

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:31:08 -0500

Kotaku has named Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (by Jim Guthrie) the best game music of 2011. Owen Pallett played violin for the menu piece "The Cloud".

k215 on Tumblr has gotten a Heartland tattoo over his heart:

NOW Magazine asked Owen about Justin Bieber: "No adult male singer should be expected to hit a high E-flat, that's castrato territory. Overall he's doing great, considering his voice is probably so fucked right now. He's gonna have a beautiful high tenor in a year or so."

SHZine forum is back / 2012 release / 2013 album

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:13:55 -0500

The forum was down for one month due to a DMCA takedown notice. Owen Pallett is planning an album in 2013 and an 'album-ish' release in 2012.

[NSFW] Poster Tumblr

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:29:23 -0500

Owen has started a blog on Tumblr for uploading scans of various Toronto show posters from the last decade.

New songs by The National

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 07:27:53 -0500

On December 9 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Owen played violin for The National's two new songs: "Rylan" and "I Need My Girl".

Owen to perform David Lang

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:36:17 -0500

David Lang's composition "Death Speaks" will be premiered by:

Owen Pallett – vocals and violin
Bryce Dessner – vocals and guitar
Shara Worden – vocals and guitar
Nico Muhly – keyboards

Described as "post-folk darkness and introspection," it is a companion piece to the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Little Match Girl Passion," which will be sung by Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices. The two dates are January 25 at Stanford and January 27 at Carnegie Hall.