AGCS’ TOP TEN ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: NUMBER ONE

Owen Pallett - Heartland

Jed says:

In my initial review of this record, all the way back in January, I said I wouldn’t be surprised if the album made it into quite a few end of year lists. Little did I know that nearly a whole year of album releases later it would be at the top of the AGCS list, with very few records coming close to matching “Heartland”.

In truth, while on first listen I gave the record a glowing review it took me a bit longer to really get into it. On the first several listens I knew it was a staggering piece of work, something to be admired, certainly, but it wasn’t a record I loved. Slowly though, with repeated listens, “Heartland” became something not just to admire but to cherish. To single out individual tracks for praise seems counter-intuitive - in an age where the album is a dying artform Owen Pallett has managed to create a cohesive whole - yet I still have my favourites. Mount Alpentine may only have a 50 second running time but it’s the record’s most over-the-top moment, with ridiculously overwrought vocals and discordant strings, and I love it. E Is For Estranged is the album’s high point, though, featuring Owen’s best vocal performance yet over a tune of simply stunning beauty.

Greg says:

I remember the exact street in Melbourne I was walking down when I first heard this album, it was one of those first plays that had an instant resounding effect on me. Over the coming months it grew and grew and soon became not only an album of the year but an album of all time. Serious.

I like so much about this album it’s hard to know where to start, but being from a classical background it was almost emancipating to hear someone mix electronic sounds and experimental harmony with the fundamentals of hundreds-of-years-old classical orchestral music. E Is For Estranged is simply beautiful, the best example of how Owen takes simple ideas and orchestrates them to the max. A lush album and well deserved of our number one spot.