The Cedar and Walker Art Center present The Mountain Goats with Final Fantasy (at The Cedar) SOLD OUT

Although the Mountain Goats (John Darnielle, Peter Hughes and Jon Wurster) have worked for ten-plus years within the general musical framework of acoustic guitar, bass, and voice, their lyrics have roamed far and wide. None dig deeper, perhaps, than those on their new release The Life of the World To Come (4AD, October 6 2009). The Life Of The World To Come was recorded this spring and features string arrangements by Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy).  Less a profession of religious faith than an immersion in Biblical poetry and imagery, the songs on The Life of the World to Come take their names from biblical verses that informed or inspired them, or which, sometimes, came up against them at right angles.

John Darnielle is one of the most imaginative lyricists of his generation. Since he sat down cross-legged with an acoustic guitar in front of a boom box and pressed record for the first time - more than a decade ago - skewed characters, vibrant images and perfectly-framed narratives have flowed in the hundreds.  

“The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle has been one of the best songwriters of the ‘00s:
-Rolling Stone

“America’s best non hip-hop lyricist”
-The New Yorker

“Mountain Goats auteur John Darnielle continues to write songs that could inspire a season’s worth of TV-movie melodramas…the results can be extraordinary. Get the man an orchestra, now.”
-Entertainment Weekly

Named #82 out of 100 in Paste Magazine’s list of the 100 best living songwriters
“They’re eccentric gems he uses to work out his lyrical muscles – concise tunes with matter-of-fact lines that tell simple but captivating stories, steadfastly proclaimed in his geek who-lived-to-tell wail.”
-Paste Magazine

Owen Pallett's live violin-looping project was named Final Fantasy, in tribute to the melodramatic videogame series.  Final Fantasy's debut album "Has A Good Home"  (Blocks/Tomlab) was released in April 2005.  The sophomore album, "He Poos Clouds" (Blocks/Tomlab) was written and arranged entirely for string quartet, and is a satirical song cycle based on the eight schools of magic according to Dungeons and Dragons.  The Village Voice praised it as having "the best lyrics of the year", Pitchfork described it as "a joy to hear... this is, in a word, fierce--it can engage you on a level most albums can't", and many publications put it in their top ten lists for the year. Canadian journalists voted and awarded it the inaugural Polaris Prize for best Canadian full-length album.
 
Owen has been touring Final Fantasy constantly while writing string and orchestral arrangements for many releases, including Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible" (and "Funeral"), Grizzly Bear's "Yellow House", Beirut's "The Flying Club Cup" and The Last Shadow Puppets' "The Age of the Understatement".  Owen curated the 2008 Maximum Black Festival.  In October 2009, Final Fantasy released 2 EPs: "Spectrum, 14th Century" (Blocks/For Great Justice) and "Plays To Please" (Slender Means Society/States Rights Records/Blocks).  The former contains field recordings from the fictional land of Spectrum, and the latter is a big band tribute to songwriter Alex Lukashevsky of the band Deep Dark United.  Owen has orchestral arrangements featured on Pet Shop Boys'  "Yes" and The Rumblestrips full-length "Welcome to the Walk Alone" produced by Mark Ronson.  He has also orchestrated and conducted the film score for Richard Kelly's forthcoming movie The Box (2009) with Win Butler and Regine Chassagne.  Highlights from the Final Fantasy repertoire were performed by The Brooklyn Philharmonic at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House as part of its 2009 season and will also be reprised by the Symphony Nova Scotia in November.  Owen is currently completing work on his forthcoming full-length romance album entitled "Heartland".

Tickets are on sale now ONLY from The Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2) and online at Ticketweb.

Tickets: SOLD OUT $18 advance ($15 Walker members) / $20 day of show ($18 Walker members). STANDING ROOM ONLY      

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