We told you earlier in the year that Final Fantasy, also known as Owen Pallett, had signed to Domino, and also announced that a new album would be released in early 2010, entitled Heartland.

Well, that record now has an official release date, and it will be one of the first BIG INDIE records of the new decade when it will be available to buy, through Domino (obviously), on January 11 2010.

Here's what OP had to say on the matter:

"The songs themselves form a narrative concerning a farmer named Lewis and the fictional world of Spectrum. The songs are one-sided dialogues with Lewis, a young, ultra-violent farmer, speaking to his creator."

"The album was compositionally modeled upon the principles of electronic music. The principles of analog synthesis informing symphonic writing, like an inversion of a Tomita record. These songs, too, were designed to be as dense with polyphony as the Final Fantasy live shows can become. While writing it, I kept an image in my head of putting so many notes on the page that the paper turned black."

He added:

"This record encapsulates a whole year of work for me, and was difficult to see through, but immensely proud of the results. I hope you enjoy it."

Pallett worked with Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara in Iceland, at Reykjavik's Greenhouse studio - where Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's The Letting Go was also recorded - along with engineer Mio Þórrison. Other bits and bobs, such as the recording of the Czech Symphony Orchestra, were done elsewhere. In the case of the CSO, in Prague. There's even a guest appearance from Nico Muhly on the album, too. Nice stuff indeed.

The tracklisting for Heartland is as follows:

1. Midnight Directives
2. Keep The Dog Quiet
3. Mount Alpentine
4. Red Sun No. 5
5. Lewis Takes Action
6. The Great Elsewhere
7. Oh Heartland, Up Yours!
8. Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
9. Flare Gun
10. E Is For Estranged
11. Tryst With Mephistopheles
12. What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

There will be a return to the UK for Pallett and co., who are currently touring the US with indie-folk-rock legends The Mountain Goats. So stay tuned.