Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Final Fantasy // First Unitarian Church // 11.09.07

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I mentioned in a recent post that Final Fantasy was warming up in the basement of the First Unitarian Church, and that it delayed the set of Jonah Matranga. So here's more about that.

I was aware going into the Jonah Matranga show that Final Fantasy would be playing at the church at almost exactly the same time as Jonah. As I sat and waited for Jonah's show to start, he told the audience that he was going to get a late start because Final Fantasy was doing their soundcheck just underneath our feet. Being a fan, I obviously had to go investigate.

As I walked towards the steps of the basement I could clearly make out the song "The Arctic Circle" the first track from the 2006 album He Poos Clouds. My walk turned into a sprint. I got down to the empty basement just in time to watch Owen play through the song. The lights were up and the only other people in the basement were the sound techs and a roadie or two. I knew that Jonah wasnt going to start his show until Owen was done, so I just decided to park it and watch.

Owen played a number of songs, none all the way through, but he did play them exactly how he would play them live, with all the instruments and the looping. It was really neat to watch him tinker with his equipment to get the sound he wanted. Its a side of most musicians that you dont typically get to see and most people dont realize exists before every show. And a guy like Owen Pallett doesnt just plug in and hope for the best. He obviously cared about providing a perfect sound.

After standing there for about 20 minutes some way too indie kid came up to me and told me I had to wait outside. I was ready to go back upstairs anyway but I still wonder what he would have done if I had said "no, I'm ok".

Final Fantasy has a new album coming out in 2008 called Heartland, the follow-up to 2006's He Poos Clouds. Until then his contributions are all over two stunners this year Neon Bible by Arcade Fire and The Flying Club Cup by Beirut on which you can here his string and vocal contributions.