We ran into Owen Pallett from Final Fantasy after his amazing show with Cadence Weapon November 2nd, and made arrangements for a phone interview which we did earlier today. Owen touched on everything from his tour, to his new album, to his favorite video games, and even shared some wisdom about gay tolerance around North America. COOL! It contains minimal profanity, so DON’T READ IT NO MATTER WHAT.

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Radio UTD: So how’s it goin’ Owen?

Final Fantasy: It’s good, we’ve just got a long drive from Charleston to Philadelphia.

R: How’s the tour been so far?

FF: Uh, it’s been really good for me. There’s been about a year and a half now that I’ve kind of been touring for He Poos Clouds. But yeah, it’s been okay. At first I was like “Ohhh! Nooo!” but now that the end is in sight I’ve kind of been in better spirits.

R: I’ve read online that you’re kind of shy as a performer. Is that something you’ve overcome or are getting better at?

FF: Oh, no. I’m not really shy about performing. I’m shy about talking to strangers, though.

R: Oh. Sorry about this then [laughs]. Do you have any favorite cities or venues that you’ve played this tour?

FF: There’s kind of a bunch. I really like coming down to the south. It’s just the people are really optimistic and the countryside is really beautiful, and… It’s really interesting too, because people always have this attitude like, “why would you come and play in Alabama?” It’s kind of similar to parts of Canada in a way, because people are always asking “eh? Why are you coming to Regina? Why play in Regina?”… I just say “I didn’t build the city there, you guys petitioned to have it built, I’m just here to play.” It’s always nice, it’s a very welcoming crowd [laughs]. It’s like the opposite of Switzerland.

R: I can’t say I’ve been.

FF: It’s horrible. Never go.

R: We overheard after the Denton show that some guy pinned you as being hugely influenced by Sufjan Stevens. How do you respond to those kinds of accusations? Like you’re just another Andrew Bird or just about anybody else with… Violins in their music?

FF: It’s kind of difficult. I think that the relationship a musician has with their music is deeper and more complex than can really be discussed in casual conversation in bars. Obviously, I have a lot of problems with Sufjan’s music, but there’s also a lot that I like about it. But then again, there’re a lot of things I might not like about my own music. It’s a pretty tricky thing; it’s like a minefield to approach and talk about. Since these people are kind of your colleagues, you can’t really take their music and have it submit to your will. When you’re a musician, I think other people’s music becomes something that you listen to less for pleasure… Ah, well, sure you listen to them for pleasure, but there’s a level of research involved as well, you know, where you listen and think about things that you would do differently… And try to find things you want to steal.

R: So, would you say that you are more influenced and analytical towards musicians with similar music, like stringed instruments and loops, or just from other bands that are completely different?

FF: Interestingly enough, typically when I’m confronted with music that has similarities to my own, like cosmetic or technical similarities, my first instinct is to, sort of… Run away. Not only that, but to stop doing what their doing and try to do something completely different. Not saying that I dislike the music… It’s just… Like the best example would be the Dirty Projectors and how they took their influence from Black Flag on their last record. And I know, from talking with them that all they really listen to is Top 40. They listen to R&B, you know what I mean?

R: I didn’t know that, but I guess that makes sense.

FF: It totally makes sense, like you can hear it in their music. It’s so far removed from what’s going on in top 40, like they’re looking at that music through a different filter. But anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever really done anything to avoid the traps of being another Andrew Bird or Patrick Wolf… Except in the way I dress maybe. I just wouldn’t be comfortable in a suit or a glitzy outfit… Because of the existence of those two artists.

R: You almost have more of your work in other artists’ albums than in your own; you do a lot of collaborations. I was curious about your friendship with Cadence Weapon; aside from touring, do you plan on doing anything musical together, like a collaboration, or a side project?

FF: We’ve talked about it, collaborating, but we haven’t actually done anything. I think the reason is, the way that I work with others is very simple; whatever I’m working on, the record is either entirely recorded or not, and I just go in and sort of do my thing, you know? With Cadence Weapon it’s a lot different, because he’s like a hip-hop producer. So, typically the way he makes a track, he just goes through his record collection and finds stuff to sample. We’ve talked about it, though. About a year and a half ago now, he asked “could you record some strings for me on my record?” and I was like “What?!” Because it seemed like such a novel thing, like being asked to record music for a commercial or something. So, we haven’t really done anything yet, but I’m sure we will sometime in the future. I just don’t think that his rapping would be well placed on a Final Fantasy record.

R: You mentioned recording for a commercial. We were actually watching TV about two weeks ago and we heard what we thought was “Your Light is Spent” from Has a Good Home covered by some female vocalist being used on a commercial. How did that happen?

FF: Um, well… Actually, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

R: Really?

FF: The commercial isn’t even on the air yet.

R: Really? It sounded exactly like your song. What is the commercial for?

FF: It’s actually for a brand of Margarine.

R: Well, I guess we’re crazy… Or you have a copyright suit on your hands.

FF: Well, it’s not on the air yet.

R: That’s bizarre. Then I guess we just THOUGHT we heard one of your songs in a commercial before and…

FF: No, no, no… My songs have been in two commercials, both times against my will [laughs]. And both times they were overseas… But anyway, I did do a commercial using “Your Light is Spent,” which is funny since the lyrical content of the song goes directly against lending itself to being put in a commercial. But people like the plucky-plucky. So you know… I kind of did some… Plucky-plucky… That sounds kind of vulgar [laughs]… and put together a song for a commercial. And I’m really into it, and considering the expenses that a musician has to put up with, I’m totally okay with selling songs, I’m just not really ready to take that step into selling songs that are also on albums.

R: I read that you were the one that contacted Zach from Beirut to do the collaboration on their new album. Is there anyone else that you’re tempted to go after for a collaboration today or in the future?

FF: Well, um… Definitely the Dirty Projectors. Dave Longstreth. Although, I don’t really know what I could do for him… It’d be more about what he could do for me [laughs]. There’s a few other people that I’m working with at the moment that I’d rather not talk about until it’s all done, but I’m actually working on a film score with somebody to be released within a year. The problem with collaboration is that I have to be careful with the press release, but anything I’m doing I have no problem telling about as soon as it’s written in my notebook. But other people’s stuff I have to shut my mouth about.

R: So what’s the status of the new album, Heartland? Do you have a release date yet?

FF: It’s a long way off, but we’re aiming to have it done by about June and out by September. I’ve barely, barely written anything for it. I’ve done a few sketches and stuff, but I’m trying to finish a few other EPs first.

R: You talk a lot about how your He Poos Clouds album is based on the Eight Schools of Magic from Dungeons and Dragons…

FF: [Laughs] Well, I’m asked a lot about it, I don’t really talk about it with my friends or anything.

R: [Laughs] Well, we were curious, is there some similar theme or a framework for Heartland?

FF: In a way. Well… Kind of. Partially because looking back I see He Poos Clouds as an experiment on making a concept record that was written from a particular religious viewpoint. Like accepting Dungeons and Dragons as the one true faith, and that was the idea for the record. A lot of people were really skeptical whether it really worked or not, you know what I mean? And I was like “okay, that’s fine.” You know, I did my best. But I think with the new record there definitely is a concept, but I think I’m going to keep it a secret to let people figure it out for themselves. It is going to be a narrative; there are characters involved… And the most I’m really telling people is that it’s set in a fictional world called Spectrum, where I am the supreme deity.

R: Being as busy as you are these days, what is your current relationship with videogames? Are you done? Are they on hiatus?

FF: It’s just a little reformed, I guess. A little while ago, I was watching a commercial for Super Mario Galaxy, which looks pretty cool. I can’t wait to play that. I was playing a lot of this game called Net-Hack, which is a genre of game called Rogue-like. A lot of these games were written in the eighties or nineties and traditionally they’re all text-based. Not in the way with text like: “You see a rock.” And in the text space you type [inaudible] sort of game. For example the character is always represented by an “@” symbol and a dog would be a lower-case “d” and a dragon, for contrast would be an upper-case “D”.

R: That sounds pretty scary.

FF: These games were kind of the predecessors for the current online role-playing games like… Well, I haven’t played any of them, so I wouldn’t know. I actually don’t even know what I’m talking about. But like, Diablo is somewhat similar to these sorts of games.

R: The last time I played a game like that it came on an actual floppy disc… Or four, or five.

FF: [laughs] Yeah, I remember playing one of those when I was six on my parents’ IBM: The Dungeons of Moria. And that was one of the games in that cannon. Those games are kind of like comfort food to me.

R: We happen to go to a pretty nerdy computer science and engineering school, and I think people would be interested to know, what are your top three video game choices?

FF: Ah, well. Net-Hack is so flawed, I can’t really say it’s the best game ever. I’ve had a lot of problems with it, but it’s definitely the one I’ve spent the most time playing recently. I’m not entirely sure about the others… I’m sort of recalling things off of the echo of a memory, but I want to say that Net-Hack and Dungeons of Moria have origins in Texas. The guy’s name… Ah, I don’t remember the guy’s name, but interestingly enough, I’m pretty sure that this type of gaming sort of came out of Texas, and maybe even Dallas.

R: That’s surprising… Or, actually, maybe not so surprising.

FF: But anyway, Net-Hack is really good. Ico is a really good in terms of modern games. Symphony of the Night is a big one I like. Um… Space Quest 3… ZZT for the PC… and uh, just one more… Tetris, sure. Great game.

R: I guess to change up the subject a bit, have you encountered any boundaries in your work as a result of your sexuality? Has that been any hindrance whatsoever?

FF: Uhh, no. I was actually kind of thinking about this just last night because I feel that people in my generation are kind of late to the game in terms of taking a political attitude towards one or another sexuality. And I’m making a huge generalization too because… well, I’m not being sarcastic; I live in the very cosmopolitan city of Toronto where just about everyone is a homo. It’s almost assumed that everyone is gay. Actually, it’s almost a bigger stress people finding out that you’re heterosexual. It’s like that all over Toronto [laughs]. It’s much more accepted, and there’s really not much political debate about it. I mean, the things we’re fighting for these days are things like adopting kids and getting married and all of these other wonderful, luxurious things. I mean, sure there’s still segregation, in fact I just read today that there was finally a bill passed in the states to protect gays against discrimination in the work place. It just makes me want to go out and hug a forty-something-year-old homo for all of the political hardships they probably had to go through. I feel very fortunate to live in Toronto. It makes it kind of easy to forget that homosexuality can still lead to problems in places like… San Antonio, or wherever.

R: I read that you don’t really like to put your music out as being “homosexual music”, and it’s obvious that the music stands on its own. Do you make a conscious effort to separate your music from your love life in any way? Is it difficult or undesirable to release a gay love song? Does it keep you from making music that you would naturally want to make?

FF: Well, no. It’s a really tricky thing to talk about. And whenever I talk about this, I always get quoted and people simplify it [laughs]. Basically, I think that any music that anyone makes is going to be somehow influenced by their sexuality. I mean, you could make a record about… Say about George Bush. But if you’re a pigfucker, then your pigfuckery will come across in your music, even if you’re only singing about George Bush. It’s just going to influence it, no matter what. Your sexuality and all other parts of you have an affect on how you look at the world. I believe that… Even the way you may talk about say, the Norwegian leather industry is going to be influenced by your sexual preference. It’s inescapable. And you can choose to just sing songs about it explicitly; the world is filled with people singing about their sexuality. If you turn on the radio, more often than not you’ll be hearing love songs or songs to someone their interested in or whatever. Personally, I’m not interested in releasing too many love songs, but I don’t think that makes my music any less gay… So, we’ve pretty much run the gamut with this interview! [Laughs]

R: Yes! Thank you very much!

FF: Video games, sex… Anything else?

R: That was actually more than we expected to get, but, I guess one last question: We’ve made arrangements to interview Phil Elverum from Mount Eerie. Are there any questions that you would like for us to ask on your behalf?

FF: Hmm… If I got to ask him a question it would probably be something really technical… Probably ask him something about micing drums. I really don’t use a lot of drums on my records, and that’s mostly because I can’t get them to sound right… Right being the way Phil Elvrum gets his drums to sound [laughs]. Maybe you can get him to help me out.

R: Alright, I’ll see if he can send you an instruction manual or something. Thank you so much for your time! Good luck with your tour and your music and everything else!

FF: My pleasure.

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Thanks Owen!

Stay tuned for an interview with Greg Gillis from Girl Talk!