“Heartland” Gets Some Love

It’s been an awesome year forOwen Pallett. His recordHeartlandhas just been named one of the best of 2010 — and it’s only July.

Dusted Magazine, a discerning online music publication, just put out their Mid-Year Roundup. It’s their take on the top 10 albums of the year so far, and Heartland is among them. Pallett finds himself in excellent company: the list also includes new albums by post-punk architects The Fall and the late avant-guitarist Jack Rose.

The record has also been named a finalist for Canada’s annual Polaris Music Prize, ranking Pallett with indie rock heavyweights Broken Social Scene and Tegan & Sara, among others. Again, not too shabby. We’re rooting for Heartland to win over Pallett’s homeland when the awards are announced this September.

Until then, here’s Pallett performing a track from the album live in Studio 360 earlier this year:

Listen below to his conversation with Kurt, in which Pallett explains how he uses a violin and a loop pedal to mimic an entire orchestra when he plays live.

We’ve also got some bonus tracks that heplayed just for us.

Bottom line: If you haven’t heard his music yet, you don’t have any more excuses.

Will you support The World today?

The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!