Final Fantasy III

The Miner Becomes Forgetful (live)
Fantasy (Mariah Carey, live)

Final Fantasy - orchestral genius with countless great bands, Polaris Prize winner, and, unsurprisingly, video game enthusiast - played what may have been the best set at this year's Electric Picnic, blowing bewildered Irish minds with his mix of violin looping, screaming, and Mariah Carey covers. As well as co-writing the strings for Arcade Fire's two fine albums, he can be heard singing, playing, and generally stealing the show on Beirut's new record, The Flying Club Cup. Clearly his talent is in demand.
Despite just beginning a U.S. tour, Owen found time to answer a few questions, and tell us about jamming, Canadian teachers, and the poverty of an N64.

You, Architecture in Helsinki and CYHSY played a set together at the Electric Picnic. How did that happen, and what was it like? AIH are very nice people, aren't they?

It was TOTAL BULLSHIT. I usually have a "no jamming" rule, but it was my first or second time meeting everybody and so I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot.

I thought it might have been a bit of a bust so I brought a 24 of Carlsberg, which made the whole affair much more desperate. Half the crowd seemed to enjoy it, but seriously, I have a huge hatred of jamming in general and was doing my best to fit in.

I'm pretty sure that if I discussed this with AIH and CYHSY they'd feel the same way. And yes, AIH are extremely nice people. And did you see their show? AMAZING.

Did you enjoy playing at the festival?

Loved it loved it loved it. I saw a tonne of great bands. Deerhoof was the best, by far, but I also loved Ratatat, DJ Marky, Simian Mobile Disco, Scroobius Pip and Rilo Kiley, to name a few. I missed a lot of bands I wanted to see but everything sounded great.

My own set was crazy because my Juno is broken and Steph (the amazingly talented projectionist who crafts gorgeous backdrops using nothing but paper and light) was back in Canada so it was an unassisted, 60 minute set of nothing but looped violin. I was flipping out with the stress. It ended up being the best show I think I've ever played. I think I've reached my peak and it's all crap from now on.

What was the songwriting process like when you and Zach Condon worked together for the new Beirut record? How did the collaboration come about?

We'd all drink all night and then I'd wake up early and lay down tracks of violin while everybody slept. It took a long time and I think the rest of Beirut started to get bored, but I taught them all Settlers Of Catan and most of them took well to that. And Nintendo 64. Ha! Arcade Fire each have their own Wiis, and all of us have to share a N64. Ghetto city!

Beirut recorded some brass and drums for a new 7" I made. It was fun, we ate a lot of junk food.

In an interview with Ed Droste, you talked about how great Irish boys are. Really?

Yeah!

How's your new material coming along - is the record still called Heartland?

Yes! It's going good. It'll take a while, I keep getting all these hilarious arrangement projects and so I keep pushing back the work on it. Right now, Heartland is honestly the last thing on my mind. I'll get to it, I've got a bunch of songs written and they all sound good so far.

Are you happy with 'Hey Dad' now that you've recorded it? Was it hard to record?

Yes. That's a song I wrote when I was very young. Actually, it was originally a music review of a classical concert I went to, I wrote it for a class. The assignment was to write a review of a concert of entirely new music, so I went and had to review all these works by young composers.

Reviewing student work when you're a student really confused me, and I ended up handing in a stream of consciousness essay, wherein I detailed my own goals as a composer. In it, I wrote, "The great Canadian miracle is in me I'll shit it out and put it on the table" and that--and other parts--became the basis for the song.

My professor gave a "1/10 or a 9/10". Mid class, he abruptly stopped the lecture and said, "By the way, Owen, I've decided to give you a 9/10." Drama queen!

Anyway, I've played that song on piano, on guitar, on looped violin, with Les Mouches, and I've tried to record it so many times, and it's always sounded rubbish. Luckily Beirut really "got it". I don't think it's going to move people perhaps in the way that, say, "Postcards From Italy" moved people, but I do think it's one of the best songs I've written. I think it really gets to the point.

In June you said: "I've been offered a whole bunch of exciting arrangement gigs that are too exciting for me to talk about, lest it all goes awry" - can you talk about them now?

Nope.

Do you ever suffer from writer's block?

Not really. I get easily distracted and sometimes have a hard time staying disciplined. I'm reading Ulysses right now and it's taking up all my time. I'm not getting anything done, all I can think about is Ulysses.

How different was it working on the strings on Neon Bible to the work you did on Funeral?

With Neon Bible I was away on tour and just sent the parts in the e-mail. It took a long time, I was really thorough about it. Regrettably, I wasn't able to be there for the actual recording in Budapest, or the mixing process. I did get a chance to hear them on their own, though, and they sound... OK. It was a learning experience. Love the album though.

What music, books or video games are you enjoying at the moment?

The aforementioned Ulysses. I'm allowing myself 30 minutes of Nethack a day, which is the most complicated and hilarious game I've ever played. (I tried ADOM and Angband and Linley's Dungeon Crawl but Nethack is the game for me.)

I'm listening a great deal to Quinn Walker and Larkin Grimm. Also, my friend Jessie's band The Luyas made a gorgeous record that I can't get enough of.

But I'm especially into Jerusalem artichokes, which is a fancy name for sunflower tubers. They're delicious delicious delicious and there is no end of things you can put them in.

What's next for you?

As you may or may not have noticed, I've been touring solidly since last March. Come the end of November I'm holing up back in Toronto and I'm going to try and put some weight back on. I'm so thin! I'm 10 pounds lighter than I'm supposed to be. So: lots of new recordings and protein shakes.

The Luyas - Dumb Blood
Beirut - Postcards From Italy
James Joyce - Ulysses

Owen is busy a-touring. He may be back in Ireland in the Spring for a few gigs, which would be wonderful!