Owen Pallett is coming back to London Thursday night –– this time without his Final Fantasy alias, and fresh off the release of his latest, long-awaited album Heartland.

“I was excited about making [Heartland] when I went into it, and halfway through it just kind of started to overwhelm me a little bit,” Pallett says.

The 30-year-old Toronto violin virtuoso has worked with many bands, including Arcade Fire, Beirut, The Hidden Cameras and European pop-sensation Mika, and still found time to release two Final Fantasy albums.

His first record, Has A Good Home, came out in 2005 and his second, He Poos Clouds, won the inaugural Polaris Music Prize in 2006.

Heartland, Pallett’s highly anticipated third album, was released last month under his own name due to copyright issues with the Final Fantasy video game. It is arguably his most audacious project to date, both lyrically and musically.

Pallet decided to play the string parts along with an orchestra in Prague to create the instrumental composition.

“The orchestra is really just the tool that I have at my disposal,” Pallett says. “I don’t know how to play an electric guitar or the drums, so the orchestra is kind of what I can do.”

Despite the classical influence, which provides a rich, layered and grandiose sound, Pallett insists Heartland has more of a pop feel than his previous work.

“I was really just trying to make a pop record with an orchestra. I mean I wasn’t listening to any classical music when I was putting the thing together,” he says.

It’s not only the musical composition of the album that that makes it standout, but the lyrics also, which tell the story of a farmer called Lewis and his adventures on the planet Spectrum. Lewis is not a real person, but rather a metafictional character created by Pallett.

“I’m the self and then he’s the other,” Pallett explains. “The songs are sung from the perspective of the object of my desire. He’s obviously influenced by my family, and my boyfriend, and my friends and my lovers.”

In songs like “Tryst With Mephistopheles,” Lewis actually refers to his creator, Owen, with lyrics like  “Your light is spent, I cried/As I drove the iron spike into Owen’s eyes.” While sometimes violent and gruesome, Pallett’s narrative has a rare poeticism for pop music. It’s because of this underlying storyline that critics have called Heartland a concept album — a label Pallett doesn’t quite agree with.

“People are going to say whatever they want to say,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t think it’s a concept record. If they want to call it a concept album, then who am I to tell them what it is or what it isn’t?”

That’s not to say Lewis and his world were spontaneous creations by any means.

“Mentally, in my own mind, I created a mythology that was going to form the scaffolding for this record and the songs that are on it,” he says. “The mythology was strong enough that I didn’t want to completely ignore it.”

The last time Pallett was in London was for the London Ontario Live Arts Festival back in September, when he actually played many songs from Heartland. In fact, tomorrow night’s set list will be very similar –– with a few improvements.

“We have a new sound engineer. I also think LOLA was the first or second show that Thomas Gill, my new guitarist, played with me. We have a couple of new songs, but it’s going to be pretty much the same show –– but with better sound,” he says, laughing.

Final Fantasy headlined LOLA for the second time last fall, much to the delight of the large audience, who enjoyed his unique performance. Pallett uses a loop pedal to add layer upon layer of violin in his live act.

Although he’s been on tour for the past couple of months, Pallett is ready to entertain the London crowd once again.

“I’m looking forward to playing,” he says. “I love playing London.”

See Owen Pallett at Aeolian Hall Thursday night. Doors open at 8:15 and the show will start at 9. Tickets are $22 at www.ticketscene.ca or $25 at the door. Aeolian Hall is located at 795 Dundas St.