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MagnetMay 21, 2014In Conflict is his masterpiece--if not the best album of 2014, certainly the most profound. [No. 109, p.59]
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May 23, 2014In Conflict is ominous, gloomy, and marked with some of the most playful arrangements Pallett’s laid to date.
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May 27, 2014Even at its most wounded and immediate, the cavernous "Riverbed" and the spooky yet oddly comforting "Passions," there is a rich vein of humanity that remains tapped into.
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May 21, 2014On 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.
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May 27, 2014Throughout 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.
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May 27, 2014Pallett 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.
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Dec 18, 2014In Conflict hits a perfect art/pop balance.
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UncutJun 4, 2014In Conflict feels starkly personal. [Jul 2014, p.77]
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May 30, 2014For a fairly short 50-minute album it's definitely something you can digest in one sitting without feeling overwhelmed. Nevertheless, In Conflict improves with each listen, new pieces of the puzzle falling into place, details making the picture clearer and more fascinating with each spin.
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May 29, 2014His finest achievement yet.
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May 28, 2014The confidently poised In Conflict exhibits both a maturation in his ever-evolving compositional style and a boldness in his now assertive vocal performances.
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May 27, 2014Pallett’s vocals that move from soft quiver to full tenor on the title track. And when paired with his simple pop tendencies, the intricacies are easy to absorb. All you have to do is listen.
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May 27, 2014Compulsive and conflicted.
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May 27, 2014A sustained chamber-synthpop reflection on the idea of romantic and sexual turmoil, the album is also a tangle of confessions and absolutions, artfully and bravely unresolved.
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May 27, 2014Composition is just part of what makes pop music work, and the best tracks on In Conflict succeed on the arrangements and production as well as the writing.
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May 27, 2014In Conflict is queer outsider art at its most fraught and compelling.
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May 27, 2014It took a few listens for In Conflict to really hit, but, like a friendship that grows deeper with time, I can’t imagine not having the album around now.
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May 27, 2014In Conflict might not be an autobiography the way you or I would write it, but make no mistake: the deeper you look into it, the deeper Pallett himself stares back at you.
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May 22, 2014It may lack the fictional cryptic storytelling of Pallett's past work but such elements were merely peripheral to the overall picture--this is art set loose on pop with its teeth bared.
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Q MagazineMay 21, 2014In Conflict is as densely crammed with ideas and movement as his CV, an impression bolstered by the presence of the polymath's polymath Brian Eno. [Jun 2014, p.117]
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May 21, 2014The 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.
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May 21, 2014Pallett’s inventive textures lend emotional weight to some of the deliberately mundane lyrical details, so the album is at once beautifully ethereal and painfully real.
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May 27, 2014In 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.
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Jun 18, 2014The tension between revelation and ambiguity is echoed in the music, which avoids the easy, straightforward release of pop crescendos in favor of alternating textures and rhythms.
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May 27, 2014In Conflict is a pop treasure that's also a stirring, personal work of art.
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May 21, 2014In 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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 18 out of 22
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Mixed: 3 out of 22
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Negative: 1 out of 22
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May 27, 2014
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Aug 8, 2014
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May 30, 2014