The High Llamas: C or D?

Looks like Drag City is about to re-issue the Llamas back-catalog, beginning with Hawaii.

Actually, I think beginning with Gideon Gaye. I keep forgetting about Gideon Gaye, which is also an excellent album.

Looks like Drag City is about to re-issue the Llamas back-catalog, beginning with Hawaii.

― afriendlypioneer

This is great news. I've been hoping they would do this for years.

I am so hyped for the new album. All the reviews I'm reading make it sound very interesting.

With a title track that references Sean O'Hagan's obsession with a carrot eating panda he watched on TikTok during lockdown, it's clear The High Llamas are leaning into mass culture on this one. 2016's 'Here Come the Rattling Trees' was still indebted to the '60s pop and exotica that had shaped the band's entire output up to that point, but here they sound driven by a different beat. O'Hagan's voice is often distorted by AutoTune - on 'The Water Moves' he sounds like a sunnier Rainy Miller, and on 'La Masse' he croons over an interpolation of the Super Mario theme - and his accompaniments are bright, breezy and unashamedly electronic. There's still a trace of exotica, of course ('The Grade' is a great blend of cruise-liner pop and contemporary R&B), but The High Llamas have evolved.

'How the Best Was Won', a duet with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, is probably the most striking deviation. Anchored by a skittering trap beat (really), the track comes off like Jeremih singing country in the style of blue-eyed soul, with a chorus that might be the theme from a children's song. It's not even the only Will Oldham collaboration either; the fabled folk revivalist crops up again on 'Hungriest Man', a cybernetic Dylan-alike that's best compared with Bon Iver's quirkiest cottage rap. It's all good fun, and when it works, 'Hey Panda' is effortlessly charming: 'Sisters Friends', a collaboration with Blackpool-born singer-songwriter 'Sisters Friends' sounds like Steely Dan jamming with T-Pain, if you can imagine it.

https://boomkat.com/products/hey-panda

Isn't "when it works" Boomkat code for "buy something else"?

There’s other positive blurbs out there, just liked the way they described it.

Listened this morning.

Probably the most experimental Llamas album. Surprising lack of strings though production is busy and I may have missed some elements

Will Oldham is great. They should collaborate more. Old posts in here complained about Sean’s thin voice and his presence adds a new element.

It’s also fun and weird. Great late era album from one of my all time favorite artists.

It's going to take me a while to wrap my head around this album, was not expecting this direction, had more or less given up on new music from them altogether. It's strange hearing all these electronic elements after they pretty much abandoned that aspect of their music for the last 20 years.

this owns

i like this but am still not entirely sure what to make of it, it's wild

it is equally irritating and compelling?

It's oddly the most personal album Sean's made. Some of the lyrics are actually about feelings & thoughts. Granted, I read a couple interviews for added context, particularly this one - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2024/03/30/sean-ohagan-that-lovely-beautiful-humanity-i-had-with-cathal-coughlan-in-those-later-years-was-amazing/

I really like it.

Best HL album since Gideon Gaye. I'm surprised by how much I'm liking this and I generally hate autotune but the Bonnie Prince Billy tracks are really effective. "Sisters Friends" has really grown on me too. He seems to have finally shaken off his Beach Boys obsession (although traces are still there of course). Sounds contemporary but still with enough avant pop leanings and nifty chord changes to make it distinctively O'Hagan.