Heartland is the follow-up Owen Pallett's previous album as Final Fantasy, 2006's He Poos Clouds. The Toronto-based musician first debuted new songs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music ("Keep the Dog Quiet, "Lewis Takes Action," "The End of Time," and "Tryst With Mephistopheles"). Heartland calls to mind the farming and manufacturing regions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta but also the metaphorical 'heartland' of America. According to Pallett, where He Poos Clouds was largely a meditation on death, Heartland will draw on romance as its primary muse. As far as recording aesthetics are concerned, the musician notes that Heartland will be an "analog via digital, masquerading as analog" experiment. Lone trips to Iceland, a 50-piece string orchestra in Prague, and mixing back home comprise the polyphonic release.