It's an odd thing, in this day and age of instant gratification, to find an album which requires patience - one which refuses to divulge all of its secrets and pleasures on a single listen. Listening to these types of releases can be like watching a flower unfold in the early days of spring: at first, it seems far from engaging, and sticking with it can be something of an endurance test. But as the days roll on - or, in this case, as the album bears repeated listens - colors begin to appear, welcoming you in: a line here, a splotch here, fading into focus like a Polaroid picture and leaving us with something beautiful.
Heartland, the new album from songwriter, keyboardist, and violinist Owen Pallett (who, up until this point, has recorded under the moniker of Final Fantasy) is such a record. Granted, "Midnight Directives" is a distinctively strange song in itself, and an even stranger one to open the album with: with its urgent vocal line, skittering percussion, and furiously racing strings, it races by almost too quickly for us to grasp ahold of, and ends without making a strong impression. But once "Keep The Dog Quiet" sneaks in with its bossa nova-inspired pizzicatto string and steadily mounts to a climax of drum rolls and brass, it becomes clear that Pallett knows what he's doing. He stumbles off course again with the brief and overdone "Mount Alpentine," but hits stride with "Red Sun No. 5" and remains remarkably consistent for the remainder of the album.
It is within these later songs that Pallett's strengths not only as a songwriter, but also as an arranger, shine. Having relied in the past on synthesizers and overdubbing his violin, Pallett here is assisted by the Czech Philharmonic, who provide a truly fitting and rich sound for his rich and often complex orchestrations; these, in turn, provide support and counterpoint for his beautiful vocal melodies, which manage to be distinctive earworms even when they shy away from a typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus format. While classical music purists may scoff, the truth is that Heartland offers songs which contain as much detail and craft as any symphony or orchestral work. The trick is just to wait and let them bloom.
Track picks: "Keep The Dog Quiet," "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt," "E Is For Estranged"
Heartland score: 83
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