Final Fantasy Is Classic

The Music Hall was packed full of indie kids on Wednesday night, all of them looking for some classy music that was sophisticated and superior to whatever the latest blogiverse flavour of the week.

Indeed, the show put on by Final Fantasy and contemporary classic composer Nico Muhly was a portrait of imagination and spark, and far more than just some guy playing violin.

That Owen Pallett (a.k.a. Final Fantasy) and Muhly's bands both use violins isn't entirely rare, but it's definitely the creative key that separates them from conventional band staples of guitar, bass and drums.

While Pallett's voice and speedy fingers are his art, New York-based opener Muhly's specialty is his composition and flare. His hour-and-a-half-long set was filled to the brim with epic and drawn-out twists and turns, while he hunched over his piano keys and pecked at them like a hungry bird.

The passion that Muhly and his band of four (including Sam Amidon and Doveman) put into their set was stunning. It was the sort of swirling music normally reserved for sappy soundtracks, except you wouldn't be ashamed to listen to this. Muhly and company kept it ghostly, wistful and brave.

Pallett hit the stage 30 minutes later. He wasn't quite ready, so he rocked the most minimal introduction imaginable when he told everyone to relax, put a metronome on his keyboard, then turned it on to a steady pace. "This will keep you entertained," he said.

In a surprisingly rare, wry and spirited move, the Toronto audience started clapping along to the metronome, which prompted a triumphant "Yaaaaay!" from Pallett when he finally ran back on stage.

For the next hour, Pallett played new songs and material from his two albums, He Poos Clouds and Has A Good Home, including "This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine," "Hey Dad," "Louis Takes Off His Shirt," "Please Please Please" and "This Lamb Sells Condos" against the cute projection work of Stephanie Comilang, which sometimes dominated the show.

If the projectionist didn't make it obvious, this wasn't a classical music performance. In fact, the only real nod to the genre came in the middle of Pallett's hour-long set, when he told a story about how his mother saw one of his shows.

"She said 'Can't you play some classical music, too?'" His response was, "Well, I don't know. I think it's a pretty bad idea myself."

Pallett then broke into a short classical number, but stopped himself and said, "I don't have the chops for this."

Regardless, Pallett and Muhly put on deft performances in a show that was definitely classic.