At Richard's on Richards on Saturday, October 20.

It takes courage for an opening act to play wispy, mild country-folk-rock to a packed house on a Saturday night, and even more so to pull out a flute mid set. But Great Lake Swimmers, a front for the earnest meditations of singer-songwriter Tony Dekker, came on-stage at Richard's with a take-us-or-leave-us attitude. Not even attempting to raise his voice, Dekker whispered his way through a couple of numbers from the slower end of the Ontario band's repertoire as though he were addressing a sit-down Sunday-night audience at the Railway Club rather than a packed Dick's on Dicks. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to read the room. After all, we're talking about a crowd that included one guy who, while standing at a urinal, talked into his cellphone about how he'd come for a different show, and a girl who thought there was a stool where there was none, and almost landed butt-first on the floor.

Fortunately, the Ontario quartet didn't stay in somnabula-pop mode for the full duration of its set. By the third song, all of the Swimmers' more notable elements–Dekker and keyboardist Julie Fader's harmonies, guitarist and banjo player Erik Arnesen's sympathetic work, and Colin Huebert's delicate drum patterns–fell into place. Pretty and sweet melodies took shape on songs like "Moving Pictures, Silent Films" from the group's 2003 self-titled debut and the so-square-it's-cool sing-along "I Am Part of a Large Family" from its current release, Ongiara . Dekker's two-song solo intermission would've been better saved for a headlining gig.

In contrast, Final Fantasy commanded the respectful attention of the audience the moment it, or rather he, walked on-stage. Sipping a glass of red wine and referencing pop-culture milestones like TV's My So-Called Life between songs, Owen Pallett seemed to enjoy himself as he ran through tracks from the Final Fantasy debut Has a Good Home and its Polaris Music Prize-winning 2006 breakthrough He Poos Clouds , as well as a few covers. Alternating between violin and a keyboard, Pallett looped the former to give himself backing tracks, and some of his solos absolutely took flight. Projected onto a screen behind him, manipulated transparencies of castles, forests, and other images gave a visual dimension to his clever, funny, and weirdly sensitive story-songs about stockbrokers, fathers and sons, job interviews, and the CN Tower.

However, a little Final Fantasy goes a long way, and I enjoyed the set (with identical visuals) a lot more when it was barely 40 minutes long and presented in a theatre, as when Pallett opened for Bloc Party at the Orpheum earlier this year. And kudos to the musician for continuing to cover John Cale's wonderful "Paris 1919", from the Velvet Underground member's classic 1973 solo record of the same title. But the tune, centred around its unforgettable "You're a ghost/La-la-la-la" chorus overshadows Pallett's own efforts. The selection also was a reminder that a solo violinist playing ambitiously constructed, lyrically evocative pop tunes isn't all that original.

Still, Pallett is on to something with Final Fantasy, and until someone stranger and even more prodigiously talented comes along, he'll have a following.