“There’s this utopian idea a cult, really that an artist should have infinite means at his disposal,” Pallett told me over lunch at a vegan cafe. An unabashedly articulate 28-year-old with a degree in classical composition from the University of Toronto, Pallett makes no secret of his commitment to reinvigorating pop. “Unprecedented” isn’t a term you hear much in pop music these days, not even in indie circles, and the obvious comfort with which Pallett uses it is closely tied to Final Fantasy’s appeal. “When it’s done, though, it’s going to be kind of unprecedented.” “There are still all sorts of glitches in the program the algorithms are really complex.” He frowned at the tangle of cables at his feet, seemingly forgetting me altogether, then suddenly broke into a boyish grin. “I shouldn’t have brought you here,” he murmured apologetically. The effect was dramatic, to say the least, but Pallett still wasn’t satisfied. “A fade, not a jump.” A few moments later he got to his feet, bowed his violin violently, and the room shook with elegant noise. “I want the sound to make a smooth transition from amp to amp,” Pallett said, pouting a little. The idea was to cycle his violin’s signal from one amplifier to the next something like surround sound in a movie theater but it wasn’t quite working. “Oh! This is exciting,” he whispered at one point, giggling to himself nerdishly. The amps were arranged in a loose semicircle, vaguely reminiscent of Stonehenge: Pallett spent the day before writing a computer program to coordinate the various outputs, and the impression he made now was less that of an up-and-coming rock star than of a crackpot inventor, à la Nikola Tesla, sequestered in his workshop. Effects pedals, instrument cables, patch cords and microphone stands took up most of the space, radiating out from the laptop and sound card that Pallett was fussing over, and an ominous hum filled the room. On a rainy afternoon this past December, in his cramped rehearsal studio on Toronto’s southwest side, Owen Pallett known to his fans as the singer, songwriter, violinist, pianist, bassist, harpsichordist, engineer and everything else that makes up the indie-rock one-man band Final Fantasy was trying to play his violin through five amplifiers at once.
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