Owen Pallett : A Swedish Love Story EP

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/owenpallettswedishlove.jpg" alt=" " />Owen Pallett continues to explore the many facets of Baroque pop on his latest EP, <i>A Swedish Love Story</i><span style="font-style: normal">.</span> ...
7.5 Domino
2010 

Owen Pallett : A Swedish Love Story EP

Owen Pallett continues to explore the many facets of Baroque pop on his latest EP, A Swedish Love Story.  Back in January, the Canadian composer released Heartland (QRO review), a concept album that has so far proved to be one of the best releases of 2010, and has garnered him a second Polaris Music Prize nomination.  Instead of continuing the violent saga of Spectrum over complex orchestral arrangements, Pallett returns to the simpler recording process of his early days as Final Fantasy on his latest effort.

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Recorded in just over a week, with not much more than a violin, a Moog, a bass, and a drum kit, A Swedish Love Story is much more intricate, and fuller than one would expect.  Opener “A Man With No Ankles”, with bright tones and upbeat rhythms, may be the most ornate number in the composer’s catalog.  While it makes an inviting introductory song, it also deceives the listener to thinking the rest of the EP shares its opulence.  “Scandal at the Parkade”, a protest against anti-homosexual politicians of the world, finds Pallett’s fiddle working overtime.  The violin acts as a rhythm guitar, ferociously drawing on the strings, a melodic piano, when the bow weeps gently, and a vibraphone when it’s plucked.  The tragic “Honor the Dead Or Else” utilizes moody synths, and wistful violin to compliment the mournful vocals that utter, “All the haunting is inside your head / He pricks you when you smoke in bed / He switches off The Cure and says / ‘Selfish, selfish sleepy boy (x2), You need someone to get in your way (x2).'”  The least engaging, “Don’t Stop”, closes out the EP with steady mid-tempo beats, and restrained instrumentation in a casual cadence.  But any tone of nonchalance is in service of the lyrics.  Few artists meld the words and music into cinematic vignettes like Pallett.

Titled after one of Pallett’s favorite films, A Swedish Love Story is also a tribute to his Swedish pop inspirers.  Shuffling through all the musicians from the land of Nobel Prize, it is not clear to whom Pallett’s odes may allude.  Perhaps a call to Jens Lekman to put out a new album?  It’s only been over three years since Night Falls Over Kortedala (QRO review) posters graced the windows of local indie record shops…  Why are you so silent, Jens?

A Swedish Love Story doesn’t sound like a single with three b-sides, which EPs are often guilty of.  But more like selected samples from a complete album.  The coherence is there, if you can imagine a full-length album.  Guess we’ll have to wait for Pallett’s next LP, to find out if these four tracks were its previews.

MP3 Stream: “Scandal At the Parkada”

{audio}mp3/files/Owen Pallett – Scandal At the Parkade.mp3{/audio}

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