Final Fantasy

Toronto-based violinist/singer/songwriter Owen Pallett has been a member of the groups Les Mouches and Picastro, as well as a touring member of the Hidden Cameras and Arcade Fire—he composed strings for the latter's Neon Bible album. Final Fantasy, essentially a one-man solo project with occasional help from drummer/engineer Leon Taheny, released its first full recording, Has a Good Home, in 2005 on the small Toronto-based cooperative label Club Blocks. It was followed in 2006 by He Poos Clouds on the Tomlab label, which went on to receive the inaugural Polaris Music Prize in Pallett’s native Canada. In 2008 Pallett announced that the third Final Fantasy album, Heartland, would be the last under the FF name, and that all subsequent records would bear the mark of one Owen Pallett. Heartland, another concept album, this time dealing with what Pallett describes as "the beginning, middle and end of a relationship. But it’s sung from the point of view of the object of my affection", was released in January 2009.