Part 2: Grizzy Bear and Final Fantasy @ BAM: Final Fantasy

Owen Pallett is just a little more than a drama queen... and if not for two things, I probably would have been turned off by him at first exposure a number of years ago, then an opening act for the Arcade Fire.

Firstly, all that drama? It's in his music. It migh even be a muse of sorts. When the man talks it is with such an air of humility and timidness, that you almost question whether or not he suffers from some multiple personality/fugue state psychosis.

Second, he's really really good at everything he puts to paper. His lyrics, though kind of graphic and sometimes bordering on perverse, all paint beautiful pictures, almost fairytale like; full of caricatures and allegories for ideas taboo even in recent memory.

His appearance at BAM as one of the two "indie ensembles," bolstered some of his strongest original arrangements, was a study in humility. Usually found playing his violin like some mysterious fifth limb, Owen took to the piano and Wurlitzer, showing chops far beyond anyone could imagine. Songs like "Horsetail Feathers" and "Arctic Circle" stayed true to their original recorded form, while "None of You Will Ever See a Penny" was punctuation by bouts dissonant clapping and perhaps the musical equivalent of kitchenware falling to the floor. At one point, a song required that Owen "do something silly with a piece of tape," and the small piece of adhesive ended up working itself into the arrangement as live pastiche, more avante garde than indie rock.

I've included four tunes below off my bootleg of the evening, including two new songs Owen played for the first time. Please credit my blog via link if you do plan to share on your own blog/website.

Horsetail Feathers
Arctic Circle
Midnight Directives/The End Of Time
Tryst With Mephistopheles