Island (anticipation)

[unctious]

Trying to figure out if there will be a vinyl box set kind of thing with the whispers of remasters and Island coming out--I recently bought my first record player and need to add Owen's records to it. I'm thinking it would be smart to wait on buying whatever is available to get everything in its remastered form. Unclear what will be made available.

Would definitely buy a collection if it was going to be available.

[n8c]

Owen, any updates regarding the Island release? Still slated for September or will we be anticipating for a bit longer? Hope things have been better this year than last.

[Owen from Final Fantasy]

Thanks for your kind wishes!

I've been incredibly busy, recently. I've scored three films this year, a play, and worked as producer and/or arranger on a dozen or so records. I'm currently putting together a gala concert for the Art Gallery Of Ontario, creating work for harpsichord duo and antiphonal choir. I'm scoring a fourth film (the biggest project I've ever worked on), and prepping a bunch of new and old songs for upcoming performances. (I finally figured out a way of performing "Lewis/Shirt" with my recent guitar/violin set-up, and I'm very pleased with the results.)

We were looking forward to a September release of Island, but label, management and myself all agreed it'd be a good idea to prioritize my mental health. I've been really happy in my patterns of working from studio and spending time with friends, family, boyfriend and dog. So, we're waiting for some time longer. We'll be deciding next month on a new release date. We've already shot one video, but I have an ambitious video in mind and a director who is excited to do it, and so I'll be working on that this fall as well.

I'm still sitting on three soundtrack releases ("The Wait", "Life" and "Illusions Of Control"). We're still working out the logistics of their release. All the music I made 2004-2009 has been remastered and is being repackaged for re-release under my own name. It all sounds amazing; I did some cursory remixing of certain tracks (especially on Plays To Please) and the new master sounds extremely good. The original masters were very satisfactory, but time has given us perspective, and I'm much more satisfied with the way things are sounding now. He Poos Clouds in particular sounds like a breath of fresh air, like a whole new record-- there are details present that I'd forgot even were there. We're hoping to get them up on streaming services before the end of the year, and vinyl re-pressings in 2020.

In the meantime, thank you for your patience.

[lucyndaria]

Thanks for the update, Owen! I'm sure everyone here agrees that your mental health is most important, so we don't mind waiting some more no matter how much we're looking forward to new music.

[Owen from Final Fantasy]

Thank you! I’ve been having a miraculously good August, getting lots of sun and swimming almost every day. It’s been nice to come out of what has been almost two years of awful foggy haze. I hadn’t written any new songs since completing Island but I wrote a couple new ones last week.

Also, I’ve added several rearrangements of older songs to my live set, stuff I can swap in and out. (My new looping rig required pre-programming and practice to deliver, takes some work.) I am so very excited to get performing again!

[skuldchan]

Thanks so much for keeping us in the loop! I'm really glad that your mental health is being prioritized (there's not enough of that in this world). It's good to hear that the remasters are done, I am so excited to hear them! I've just bought my plane tickets to Munich for your performance there in December, it's been ages since I've seen you perform, and I'm really looking forward to it. Until then, I'm grateful that you are doing well too, and I hope the trend continues.

[eamas]

I've mentioned this before, but as someone who is neurodiverse myself, reading about you finding happiness after time in a fog is so healing, and I'm so grateful to be able to hear about what "doing better" means to you. It sounds so lovely. I also think about how people in the public eye face a lot of pressure to be revelatory and confessional. Twitter culture really did us no favors in that regard. I hope you know Owen that while the ability to hear about how you are doing is a huge gift to us as your fans/listeners, you have no obligation to us. Your only obligation to the world is to live and be as happy as you can. I'm so happy you're able to do that.

....All of that said, oh my god, if you could tell us more about Aubrey, I would actually die?? She seems so precious???
Where did her name come from? Is she good around people? Good around dogs? Did she ever get better at wearing her little shoes? Does she ever go out with you on those walks/swims?

Also it goes without saying but I'm so excited for remasters. I'm getting a tattoo for The Miner Becomes Forgetful on Monday. It'll be a mountain range in the shape of an anatomical heart, with veins colored in gold marble. ("See? How a miner can forget about his veins of gold?") It's my first tattoo and I'm super excited about it. Will probably share an image when it's done! I'm looking forward to hearing that song, in addition to... Oh Spectrum, Blue Imelda, The Butcher, Please Please Please, He Poos Clouds, Song Song Song, Moodring Band, Ultimatum, and Nun or a Bawd. For me, hearing those with fresh ears will be highlights for sure.

[Cat]

Thanks for the update Owen, I'm sure it'll be more than worth the wait Hopefully I'll make it to Vienna, really looking forward to seeing you play again!

[adrestia]

Thank you for the update!! Mental health should always be priority - and I'm sure Island will be well worth the wait. In the meantime, I'm SO excited for the remasters... I can finally add them to my Spotify playlists instead of watching them on Youtube in 360p  

Hearing about upcoming performances is also very exciting! Are you planning on touring for Island once it's released, or is it still up in the air at this point? I have yet to see you live, but it's a top priority on my concert bucket list!

[Owen from Final Fantasy]

I will be touring Island! I'll likely do one solo tour around the album's release, and then see about doing a trio tour with Matt and Robbie, pending their schedule. I wanted to redesign the set so it'd work with or without band... (I couldn't easily do solo shows for the last tour cycle without leaning heavily on older material.) Now it works great solo, and I'm hoping to get the band involved if time and budget permits it.

[Cat]

Aaaahhhhh that is so exciting!!!!!

[eamas]

Yay!! So excited for this! I hope there's tour merch too??

I wonder if I will be able to go to both a with-band and without-band show! I assume they'll hit major North America stops? I'm just a bus ride away from Chicago... one of the few perks of living in the US midwest.

I know Owen came to Iowa City with Grizzly Bear a few years back, but I wasn't living here then, so I missed it! @owen, if you came back to humble Iowa, I would organize an army of greedy gays to sell out the show myself (though I wholly realize this still may not be worth the ordeal of driving through Iowa.)

[adrestia]

YESSS!! Thank you for the response, I’m looking forward to catching a show! I’m out in Boston so I can only hope there’s a tour stop around here.

And I was just about to ask about merch! Any plans of shirts/posters/etc. for Island yet?

[n8c]

Owen--thank you so much for the update. Definitely sounds as if an album release amongst all of your other projects would have been overwhelming. Here's to your mental health and the success of your film scores and gala concert. As Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes put it, "tomorrow's what I'm waiting for, but I can wait a little more."

[xiaolei]

Thank you Owen for your response and updates and for everyone else in this thread for sharing the anticipation and excitement with me. I didn't expect to gain so many insights about Heartland and hear the excitement of the live shows. I live in Jackson, Wyoming so it isn't too likely I'll have a chance to see Owen live because I'm not near any significant population centers. I'm looking forward to the release and videos soon. Hope everyone remains healthy and well!