Somewhere between Andrew Bird and Four Tet is a rather large space of musical genre. Final Fantasy not only rests within that space, but has also carved himself a nice little niche. His new album is entitled He Poos Clouds and sounds way better than the name would imply.

MP3: Final Fantasy - Arctic Circle
I’ve been told this song could be about Dungeons and Dragons–but that’s not what I see when I close my eyes. No, in the dark this song takes on a completely different sort of life. “Arctic Circle” paints a feeling of excitement thinly veiled by the modesty of classical romanticism. It’s like watching a movie about the 18th century made after the turn of the century. Everyone appears to be prim and proper, but you know the director’s going to add something steamy in there. In a way, that’s Final Fantasy. It’s 2006, but he’s still writing amazing violin-rock compositions. He’s ahead of his time by embracing the past.

Preorder He Poos Clouds. (Seriously…”He Poos Clouds?” You’d never expect that from a violinist, would you?)