Owen Pallett is a violinist and singer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the principal member of the band Final Fantasy, which is essentially a solo project, although Leon Taheny is also credited as drummer and engineer.
As Final Fantasy, Pallett has been noted for his live performances, wherein he plays the violin into a sampler controlled by foot pedals, which then loops back one or more of the previously played musical phrases as he plays additional parts simultaneously. He has also performed with more traditional string quartets as backing musicians.
He believes his work is strongly influenced by his sexuality, saying, "As far as whether the music I make is gay or queer, yeah, it comes from the fact that I'm gay, but that doesn't mean I'm making music about it," in a recent interview.
On 12 February 2005, his debut album, Has a Good Home, was released by the recording club Blocks (sometimes referred to as 'BlocksBlocksBlocks'), a cooperative, Toronto-based, record label of which he is a member. A second album, He Poos Clouds, was released in June of 2006.
His previous projects included a 3-piece Toronto-based band, Les Mouches, now defunct. He was once the violinist of another Toronto band called Picastro. Owen has also recorded and toured with Jim Guthrie, The Hidden Cameras, The Vinyl Cafe, and The Arcade Fire (he co-wrote the strings arrangement for their album Funeral) [1]. One of his songs, "This Is the Dream of Win & Regine", was inspired by the principal members of the latter group, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne and is a play on a Dntel song called, "(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan."
The name "Final Fantasy" is in fact a tribute to the considerably more well-known video game series, which Owen is a fan of. There is a rumor that Owen has never actually played the Final Fantasy series (or games in general) which is false. In fact he just does not consider the Final Fantasy games as one of his top twenty favorite games.
Trivia
Has performed a cover of "This Modern Love" by Bloc Party at a concert in Waterloo, Ontario in April 2006, and at other concerts as well.
During a concert in Montreal, April 2006, Owen performed a cover of Mariah Carey's "Fantasy". He performed the cover again at concerts in London, in May 2006, Chicago, in July 2006, San Francisco and Atlanta, in August 2006.
During various concerts, Owen performed a cover of "Peach, Plum, Pear", by Joanna Newsom.
During various concers, Owen performed a cover of "Fabulous Muscles," by Xiu Xiu.
His method of looping and layering violin to create his music is also used by violinist Andrew Bird.
Discography
Les Mouches The Polite Album CD-R (2002 Department Of Records)
Les Mouches Blood Orgy CD-EP (2003 Blocks)
Jim Guthrie Now, More Than Ever CD (2003 Three Gut Records)
Les Mouches You're Worth More To Me Than 1000 Christians CD (2004 Blocks)
Final Fantasy Has a Good Home CD/LP (2005 Blocks/Tomlab)
Final Fantasy Young Canadian Mothers 7" (2005 Escapegoat Records)
Final Fantasy He Poos Clouds CD/LP (May 15, 2006 Blocks/Tomlab)
