Although I can confirm that the first three quarters of Owen
Pallett’s solo set as Final Fantasy at Someday Lounge the other week
were truly breathtaking—filled with gorgeous violin and vocal
melodies, rich textures, sharp humor, and the most virtuosic live loop
work I have ever witnessed—I cannot vouch for the final quarter.
This is because my mind exploded when, with only a few songs left to
go, the Toronto-based Pallett, spirits apparently buoyed by the crowd’s
audible bonhomie, let slip that he would be moving to Portland next
year to work on an album. The notion that Pallet who, on the strength
of his arrangements for Arcade Fire and Beirut, has carved out a niche
in recent years as indie music’s go-to strings guy, would be gracing
our already musically blessed burg was just too exciting to
handle.
But what album would he be working on? A new Final Fantasy
record? Nope. The next LP by the orchestra-prone Decemberists? Uh-uh.
When pressed for more information after the show, Mr. Pallett said that
he would be working with “Khaela.” One can only assume that the
“Khaela” in question is none other than Khaela Maricich, AKA the Blow.
Holy crap! Will Pallett fill the sonic vacancy left in the Blow by Jona
Bechtolt when he departed the duo earlier this year to concentrate on
YACHT? (Hey) Boy, that would be unbelievably awesome.
To inquire further, I emailed Maricich, who is on tour in Europe,
and has publicly stated that she would be retiring the Bechtolt
co-written Paper Television material at year’s end. In response
to my asking about the possible Maricich-Pallett partnership, she
graciously replied, “Funny that Owen said we’re making a record. For
now, my only official statement is that I am going to come home from
tour and take a nap.” Okay, that’s cool. Take a nap, you’ve been
working hard. But when you wake up, please make an album with Owen
Pallett.
While I’m busy gossip mongering, here’s another juicy
tidbit of local music news I picked up at the Final Fantasy show, this
one regarding the first performer on that night’s outstanding bill:
Dragging an Ox through Water. It seems that Whitney Museum-approved
Mission School visual artist Chris Johanson, who moved to Portland in
2004, caught Dragging an Ox at a house show and was so taken by the
circuit-bending solo folk project that he will be releasing the act’s
new 12-inch (as well as new recordings by Jackie-O Motherfucker and
Flipper) next year on his Awesome Vistas label.
Oh, and rumor has it that several prominent Northwest indie labels
are jockeying for position to put out the new Horse Feathers record,
currently in production at Skyler Norwood’s Miracle Lake Studios.
Advance word on the album is that good.