Owen Pallett on Lovecraft & Japanese fiction

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Vol. 1 Brooklyn (ran by Impose's own Brooklyn Hater) is launching a new series in which bands talk about books that they like, called Band Booking. This is always tricky, because no one believes musicians do anything besides listen to other people's music and play video games. Or maybe that's all that media types ever ask them about.

But Vol. 1 Brooklyn's first entry is with Owen Pallett and is pretty interesting. Pallett has an abiding love for all things H.P. Lovecraft and Japanese, which could render an interesting lit mashup if he ever went that route.

Here's Pallet describing his favorite books–

After The Banquet and Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids have always been my favourites, by Mishima and Oe respectively. That post-war period of Japanese fiction really resonated with me, the way both those authors– and others– were able to turn human activity into something both deeply political and also very graceful in a Classical sort of way. I also like how those two authors represent opposing political viewpoints, it’s like their novels are mocking each other.

For those out of the know, Pallett's newest album is Heartland, released about this time last year.