Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds (CD)

All Music Guide

Owen Pallett, the man behind the curtain of Toronto's aptly named Final Fantasy, describes He Poos Clouds as "an eightsong cycle about the eight schools of magic in Dungeons Dragons." Deception (when used correctly) is one of the oldest and truest art forms, and Pallett should get an award for not producing either a wimpy and ironic whinefest that utilizes childhood fantasies to dispel adult social anxieties or a sardonic lofi power metal record that pays "tribute" to the swordwielding epics of Iron Maiden and Dio. Instead, the oneman classically trained Canadian string section think Andrew Bird and Patrick Wolf has created a gem of a baroque pop record that manages to appeal to both the bespectacled hipster and the disgruntled orchestra student. Employing a measured croon caught somewhere between Scott Walker and Louis Philippe with a soft Donovanesque vibrato, Pallett assumes the position of narrator on the opening track, an ornate snapshot of youthful longing that manages to bala...nce lyrics like "she has a heart that will never melt" and "but the quarry don't share his taste for Anne McCaffery" with equal parts heartbreak and bravado he shares more than a little in common, both musically and lyrically, with the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon. Alternately dissonant and willfully melodic, each track that follows carries with it the possibility of either a crushing sigh of defeat ("I'm Afraid of Japan") or a violent outburst of passion (the onetwo punch of the lilting and rhythmic "Song Song Song" and ultradramatic/dynamic "Many Lives 49 MP"), making He Pools Clouds far more dangerous than it is cloying and pretentious, despite all of its intentions otherwise. - James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide Read more Less