I’m not trying to be a dick, sales but I’m gonna be perfectly honest: Y’all missed out BIG time. By the time Owen Pallet took the stage at Brighton Music Hall, pill the venue was half-full at best. And, while it did fill up a bit throughout his set, this highlights the disparity between those who have HEARD Owen Pallet and those who KNOW Owen Pallet.

An in demand arranger and composer, Pallet has worked on the orchestral arrangements for everyone from megastars like Taylor Swift and Duran Duran to indie staples such as The National and Franz Ferdinand. The last time I saw him was earlier this year in a massive Bridgeport arena, running around in what looked to be a Japanese Yukata and switching between violins and moog synths while backing the mighty Arcade Fire. There are plenty of musicians who can claim to be busy, but in the midst of a 50+ concert tour with Arcade Fire, it is a testament to Pallet’s commitment to his own music that he managed to fit in a handful of solo sets and release a new album, the upcoming In Conflict.

Being his first new album in four years, Pallet’s set was filled with currently un-released songs from In Conflict. The album’s release proper is May 27th, so its safe to assume that most of the audience were hearing these tunes for the first time (aside from the naughty few who may have obtained the album earlier). Backed by Robbie Gordon on drums and Matt Smith on synths and guitar (though he mostly used an octave pedal to mimic a bass), Pallet’s massive, orchestral sound was built on top of many violin loops; his talent in both properly looping these many strands of violins and percussion whilst singing over them was astounding.

At times, he was reminiscent of Andrew Bird (the comparison is an obvious one), but whereas Bird’s strengths are more in pastoral beauty, Pallet’s music falls ambiguously between darkly epic soundtracks and (sometimes) uplifting melodies. Older cuts such as “This is the Dream of Win and Regine” were beautiful showcases of Pallet’s violin chops and newer songs like “The Secret Seven” opened the floor to Pallet’s subtle pop sensibilities. Teetering between the old and new, Pallet’s set touched on enough older favorites to keep the crowd happy while still featuring enough new tunes to keep them intrigued.

He closed his set with a new song, the slow building “Song For Five and Six” and the fiercely heroic, “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”. The former started off with a synth-arp heavy intro before slowly blooming into a violin odyssey that was both heartwarming and vaguely dancey. While the latter did miss the album version’s horn accompaniment, Pallet and his band still managed to build the song up to a fever pitch, with the repeated refrain of “I’m never gonna give it to you”. A great example of the intersection between classical and pop that Pallet currently resides in, its hard to think of a better set closer.