Country : Canada Label : Secret City Genres and styles : Chamber Pop / Indie Folk Year : 2020

Island

· by Rupert Bottenberg

Toronto’s award-winning articulator of elevated pop, Owen Pallett, returns after too long a wait (his preceding proper album, In Conflict, came out in 2014). With not one but two albums on the same day, in fact, to help make up for the delay. The score to the documentary Spaceship Earth (read our review here) was on everyone’s spring-release radar, but his own Island arrived to great, and happy, surprise.

The contents, to be sure, aren’t entirely unanticipated. The creative voice he established with 2006’s consequential He Poos Clouds, the pleasantly eccentric conflation of classical, folk, and pop, remains in place here. The album’s built out of a batch of songs Pallett put together on an acoustic guitar, and some don’t stray far from that, like the sun-dappled “Transformer”. The material made its way to Abbey Road studios and orchestral arrangements, however, so matters are scaled up for songs like the sweeping “In Darkness” and “A Bloody Morning”.

The stirring and memorable “Paragon of Order” reflects the most rewarding balance of the near and the wide on the record, nicely representative of Pallett’s capacity for clear expressions of both intimacy and grandeur, often in the same moment.

Latest 360 Content

Montreal Anti Jazz Police Festival – Day 2

Montreal Anti Jazz Police Festival – Day 2

Shaina Hayes and her Kindergarten Heart

Shaina Hayes and her Kindergarten Heart

David Binney – In The Arms Of Light

David Binney – In The Arms Of Light

Chauffeur et Parlak – “The Napoli Run”

Chauffeur et Parlak – “The Napoli Run”

Arlo Parks’ infectious, festive melancholy at the Beanfield.

Arlo Parks’ infectious, festive melancholy at the Beanfield.

Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

Montreal Anti-Jazz Police Festival at URSA – Day 1

Montreal Anti-Jazz Police Festival at URSA – Day 1

Piano Symphonique | Julia Mirzoev, Braden McConnell & Antoine Rivard-Landry

Piano Symphonique | Julia Mirzoev, Braden McConnell & Antoine Rivard-Landry

Single of the Day: Magick Brother & Mystic Sister “The Hierophant”

Single of the Day: Magick Brother & Mystic Sister “The Hierophant”

The Bolokos – feat. Fanswa Ladrezeau – Kouté Pou Tann

The Bolokos – feat. Fanswa Ladrezeau – Kouté Pou Tann

Real Farmer – Compare What’s There

Real Farmer – Compare What’s There

Simon Leoza – ACTE III

Simon Leoza – ACTE III

Opera McGill Presents Semele: An Ambitious Evening with the Gods

Opera McGill Presents Semele: An Ambitious Evening with the Gods

In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats Experience Strives for Human Connection through VR

In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats Experience Strives for Human Connection through VR

Daymé Arocena – Alkemi

Daymé Arocena – Alkemi

Extra Time – Where Is The Light

Extra Time – Where Is The Light

Martha Wainwright about her new jazz festival

Martha Wainwright about her new jazz festival

Félix Dubé Trio – Impermanence

Félix Dubé Trio – Impermanence

Thomas Dybdahl – Teenage Astronauts

Thomas Dybdahl – Teenage Astronauts

Buzhold – What It Meant?

Buzhold – What It Meant?

Yoo Doo Right – The Sacred Fuck EP

Yoo Doo Right – The Sacred Fuck EP

Residente – Las Letras Ya No Importan

Residente – Las Letras Ya No Importan

Subscribe to our newsletter