“He became as equally famous for being a sexual Olympian as he was for his amazing compositions,” says the Canadian avant-indie singer-songwriter Owen Pallett of 20th-Century composer Ned Rorem, whose memoir The Paris Diary detailed flings with Tennessee Williams, Leonard Bernstein and Noel Coward among others. An extract from Pulitzer Prize-winner Rorem’s diary detailing the love felt towards him by his patron and landlady Marie-Laure de Noailles opens the video to the Arcade Fire touring member’s next single “In Conflict,” largely shot on the north fork of Long Island by Jason Last and Jaime Rubiano. Taken from his fourth album of the same name, the single drops later in the year after Pallett hits Europe, including a performance with a chamber ensemble and special guests at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on December 3. Below the artist formerly known as Final Fantasy opens up on Eno, Kanye, and the carnal roots of his latest track.

On writing “In Conflict”…
The song is about men; the ghost of my father whispering to me about human desire, and it’s about this moment in your life when you start to recognize that your body is a series of apparatus and you start to covet the bodies of people younger than you. I don’t identify as male, I identify as gender-queer, but I am very sympathetic whenever I see men throwing aside everything they have for the love of somebody new. It’s been the subject of so much poetry. 

On working with Brian Eno…
In Conflict was nearing completion and he’d seen some shows. After one, it just occurred to me I should ask him to sing backing vocals on it. I knew it was his thing. On so many records—from U2 to Talking Heads—you can always hear his beautiful nasal voice on the background. He plays guitar on this track; it seems so funny to me: the amazing Brian Eno playing this little guitar part, but it’s one of my favourite parts.

And what makes Kanye West so great…
Kanye makes my favorite records, but people write about them like they’re a Rodin sculpture. I could write about Kanye’s music, but there would be nothing about Kanye in there—just about the way his records are made, with the contributions of the different people he’s got involved. To me is this incredible argument for a culture of capital. How the most beautiful things can be created with money.

In Conflict is out now on Domino.