‘In Conflict’ is a beautiful and powerful album, light as a feather in its delivery of complicated musical and lyrical ideas, but packing a punch that’s sharp enough to floor most other records released this year.
In Conflict is ominous, gloomy, and marked with some of the most playful arrangements Pallett’s laid to date.
While it may peer into the abyss (at least thematically), it's as cathartic and engaging a collection of songs as he's committed himself to thus far.
On In Conflict the Canadian composer has managed to translate that energy into his recordings ,making his music as invigorating as it is soothing, as exciting as it is impressive and as complex as it is accessible
Pallett has always crafted emotionally rich songs, but he seemed on previous albums to be trying to worm his way into listeners’ heads via inventive cleverness. On In Conflict, he seems much more comfortable taking aim at the gut.
Throughout In Conflict, Pallett opens up his compositions even more than his lyrics, but the songwriting is no less brainy, and themes no less tangled, than on his earlier work.
In Conflict is a fine composition free of the fussy baggage that often comes with grand artistic vision.
Though less immediate than previous efforts, repeat listens to the darker, subtler In Conflict reveal yet another fascinating entry in Pallett's excellent catalogue.
He's less concerned with dazzling us this time around, and as a result he moves us more.
The record is a captivating and challenging insight into the mindset of an intelligent artist who is pushing himself further than ever before, taking his music in new and fascinating directions.
The confidently poised In Conflict exhibits both a maturation in his ever-evolving compositional style and a boldness in his now assertive vocal performances.
Heartland and In Conflict share their creator’s touch, but the latter distinguishes itself by featuring more electronic instrumentation and lyrics that bear a personal relationship to Pallett, whether in literal or composite form.
Warm, often inscrutable, positing adulthood as the necessary product of a fantasy-rich childhood, In Conflict is Pallett's most realized album. There isn't anything like it at the moment.
His fourth solo album mingles gothic strings and sci-fi gloops and glitches to create a record that sounds destined to soundtrack the 2025 coronation of King James Blake I (‘Chorale’), his Silver Jubilee rave (‘Song For Five & Six’, ‘Infernal Fantasy’) and his inevitable dramatic assassination plots (‘The Passions’, ‘The Riverbed’).
In Conflict doesn't find Owen Pallett breaking new ground, but that might not matter. He's still bringing his exacting ear to perfect arrangement (sometimes a little overly so), along with a unique lyrical outlook—and for the most part, In Conflict balances the two.
In Conflict is an impressive record of worthy content, but the day he finds a way to reconcile his musical chops to his pop ear, then Owen Pallett will surely make his masterpiece.
'In Conflict' isn’t quite there: Pallett still sings like a choirboy, still crafts songs that nearly burst with swooping strings and balletic brass, still displays a penchant for lyrics that teeter on the edge of embarassing but remain firmly stuck in the memory banks.
One of my favorite chamber pop albums since Antony and the Johnsons' I Am A Bird Now.
Nice melodies, interesting voice, self-conscious lyrics... and a bit too much strings and other fluffy things.
Nice melodies, interesting voice, self-conscious lyrics... and a bit too much strings and other fluffy things.
This might be the most complex and unconventional have his main releases. I love it. "I Am Not Afraid" is my facvortie song of his.
1 | I Am Not Afraid 4:15 | |
2 | In Conflict 4:13 | |
3 | On a Path 4:33 | |
4 | Song For Five & Six 4:31 | |
5 | The Secret Seven 5:16 | |
6 | Chorale 3:53 | |
7 | The Passions 3:54 | |
8 | The Sky Behind the Flag 4:22 | |
9 | ---> (1) 0:46 | |
10 | The Riverbed 3:44 | |
11 | Infernal Fantasy 3:22 | |
12 | Soldiers Rock 4:56 | |
13 | ---> (2) 1:51 |
#10 | / | Time Out London |
#12 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#18 | / | Flavorwire |
#20 | / | The Guardian |
#31 | / | Drowned in Sound |
#32 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#42 | / | Pitchfork |
#46 | / | Pazz & Jop |
#46 | / | The Wire |
#51 | / | Wondering Sound |