Songfacts®:

• This is the first single from the third album by Canadian indie rock artist Owen Pallett. Heartland is the first of Pallett's records to be released under his own name, rather than his recording moniker of Final Fantasy. This was out of concern of creating confusion with the Final Fantasy video games in Japan and to avoid infringing on any trademarks.
• Heartland is a concept album. Pallet explained to Fact magazine: "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."
• Aside from his efforts as a recording artist, Pallett has become well known for his string arrangements for a series of critically acclaimed albums, including Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, Grizzly Bear's Yellow House and the Pet Shop Boys' Yes.
• Pallett explained to Drowned In Sound that "the bi-tonal woodwinds at the end are modeled after a ring modulator."
• In the lyric, "I took No-Face by his beak and broke his jaw... he'll never speak again, " No-Face' is the name of a cockatrice.