More geeky than underground, I promised myself I wouldn't post this.

I'll say I've had this album for a good week and a half now. It came out on January 11th so it must be around that number.

Here is how it went down: I listened to it, I hated it. I listened to it again, I thought of Sufjan Steven's sort of orchestration, iced with whispery vocals. I listened to it again (by the third unsure listen of something you know your probably beginning to like it), a viola! It had me at "Lewis Takes Action."

I, amazingly enough, have no music playing right now. Its just me and the dishwasher, yet some-freakin'-how I have "Lewis Takes of His Shirt," reverberating in my head. So I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what I DON'T like about Owen Pallett's, Heartland.

Here goes!

This guy writes video game music. In fact, he originally made music under the name "Final Fantasy," (I already warned you that this is geeky). I'm gonna go ahead and say that the first 4 tracks of this album make me want to run around with a sword killing bad guys. I'll go further: I am stoked that I got past the first 4 songs because tracks 5-12 rock my world.

I hate to name drop but I think its okay with our friend Sufjan because I am having trouble finding other words to describe Pallett's orchestration. Both artist's draw classical influences in one way or another. However, Sufjan considers the vocals to be equals with their instrumental counterpoints. Perhaps it is that Pallett's primary instrument is violin, or that what he is droning on about is less important than what the instruments are currently up to. This brings me to my next point.

The only thing I dislike about Sufjan Steven's music is his drony back-up chorus' hounding away at the end of some of his songs ("They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!" for example). Pallett does this exact same thing but without the creepy unison community choir singing along. For example, in "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt," he repeats over and over again the lyrics, "I'm never gonna give it to you." My brother described this as "very romantic." I had a good chuckle.

Now I suppose I have to say something good about it. Heartland is damn catchy. His vocal lines are very unique and a pleasure to listen to. The music itself is imaginative and inventive. I would suggest it for a long car ride or a nature walk (ix-nay on the swords).

My favorite tracks are: "Lewis Takes Action," "Heartland, up yours!" and "Lewis Takes His Shirt Off"

If you want to know what I mean, check out his myspace.