Final Fantasy doles out brand-new EPs, Believer advice

Those fortunate enough to witness the violinist's expert knob-twiddling and loop-de-looping in person can doubtlessly understand why the in-demand arranger (he cowrote the string parts on Arcade Fire's Funeral) has been so busy with o.p.p.—other people's projects, including work for both Beirut and The Last Shadow Puppets—that he hasn't released any new FF material since last year's Tomlab "Alphabet Series" 7-inch.

Pallett recently gave Stereogum the scoop on (and exclusive MP3 downloads from) new EPs Spectrum, 14th Century and Final Fantasy Plays to Please, out Sept. 30 and Oct. 21, respectively. Spectrum—which Pallett describes as full of "fake field recordings"—was made with the large Beirut stable of musicians, while Plays to Please features an orchestra containing Final Fantasy, Andrew Bird and members of the Hidden Cameras covering six madcap songs written by fellow Torontonian Alex Lukashevsky. Although Pallett teased a third LP, Heartland, in a nearly-two-years-old Pitchfork interview and gave the Stranger an interesting Star Wars-based comparison about it, no release date has been set. 

While some might call Final Fantasy criminally underrated, the papers of record have certainly taken notice. Both the New York Times and New York magazine published features about Pallett this year, while The Believer signed him on to contribute to the lit-mag's annual music issue, in which he offered advice in the "Sedaratives" column usually authored by Amy Sedaris.

Final Fantasy's scant, non-North American 2008 tour dates:

September

14 - Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Santander Cultural
17 - Sao Paulo, Brazil @ SESC Santana *
18 - Sao Paulo, Brazil @ SESC Santana *
20 - Recife, Brazil @ No Ar Coquetel Molotov Festival

October

17 - Reykjavik, Iceland @ Iceland Airwaves Festival

December

13 - Melbourne, Australia @ Meredith Music Festival

* - w/Colleen