He Poos Clouds

1	The Arctic Circle / Final Fantasy 4:24
2	He Poos Clouds / Final Fantasy 3:31
3	This Lamb Sells Condos / Final Fantasy 4:39
4	If I Were a Carp / Final Fantasy 4:03
5	I'm Afraid of Japan / Final Fantasy 0:57
6	Song Song Song / Final Fantasy 3:56
7	Many Lives 49 MP / Final Fantasy 4:31
8	Do You Love? / Final Fantasy 2:56
9	The Pooka Sings / Final Fantasy 3:03
10	[Untitled Hidden Track] / Final Fantasy 5:25

All Music Guide

Owen Pallett, the man behind the curtain of Toronto's aptly named Final Fantasy, describes He Poos Clouds as "an eight-song cycle about the eight schools of magic in Dungeons & Dragons." Deception (when used correctly) is one of the oldest and truest art forms, and Pallett should get an award for not producing either a wimpy and ironic whine-fest that utilizes childhood fantasies to dispel adult social anxieties or a sardonic lo-fi power metal record that pays "tribute" to the sword-wielding epics of Iron Maiden and Dio. Instead, the one-man classically trained Canadian string section -- think Andrew Bird and Patrick Wolf -- has created a gem of a baroque pop record that manages to appeal to both the bespectacled hipster and the disgruntled orchestra student. Employing a measured croon caught somewhere between Scott Walker and Louis Philippe with a soft Donovan-esque vibrato, Pallett assumes the position of narrator on the opening track, an ornate snapshot of youthful longing that manages to balance lyrics like "she has a heart that will never melt" and "but the quarry don't share his taste for Anne McCaffery" with equal parts heartbreak and bravado -- he shares more than a little in common, both musically and lyrically, with the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon. Alternately dissonant and willfully melodic, each track that follows carries with it the possibility of either a crushing sigh of defeat ("I'm Afraid of Japan") or a violent outburst of passion (the one-two punch of the lilting and rhythmic "Song Song Song" and ultra-dramatic/dynamic "Many Lives 49 MP"), making He Pools Clouds far more dangerous than it is cloying and pretentious, despite all of its intentions otherwise. Reverend Lee Power

Billboard

The disc has a distinctive power all its own, drawing you almost intimately close into Pallett's weird little world. Joshua Klein