Hey Panda

by The High Llamas

Overview

After a long run of making albums that stuck very closely to a template that became instantly recognizable -- Baroque orchestral flourishes, Beach Boys-inspired melodies, impressionistic lyrics -- Sean O'Hagan and his High Llamas have finally gone and done something totally unexpected. Over the years, O'Hagan had been hearing modern pop and R&B music played around the house by his children, and thanks to that and his love of inspired producers like J Dilla and Tyler, The Creator, he makes a daring leap into the present on 2024's Hey Panda. On it, he and a handful of collaborators -- including Fryars, Will Oldham, Rae Morris, and his daughter Livvy -- strip the High Llamas sound down to its key components, then add back modern sounds like Auto-Tune, electronic glitches, and occasional hip-hop beats. Over the top of this sparse, slick, and off-kilter musical backing, O'Hagan delivers some of his most introspective, soul-baring lyrics to date. In fact, it's hard to remember him ever singing about anything that sounded important; the words mostly felt like another element in the over-arching sonic blanket. Here, he sounds dismayed about aging and a little down in general, and the stripped-down production fits that mood very well. Songs like "The Grade" or "Hungriest Man" have a naked, brutally honest feel, and the combination of shimmering sounds and the ache that fills the space between them is palpable. It's a strange, painfully real, and quite unexpected sensation to experience during a High Llamas album. Not bad, though. Other tracks are less gloomy, with some of the old whimsy sneaking in on "Hey Panda" or the Rae Morris-sung "Sisters Friends." The latter is one of the best examples of how well O'Hagan melds the old Llamas style with the new approach. Others include "Toriafan," which blends one of his trademark rich and lovely arrangements with drumbeats that clap like gun shots, treated vocal runs, and dubby clouds of reverb, and "Fall off the Mountain," which has the pastoral feel of earlier albums, only it's interrupted at intervals by rubbery uptown funk. Overall, Hey Panda is a fascinating, sonically and emotionally satisfying record, and one can't help but be impressed by how well O'Hagan pulls off the trick of revamping his sound. The amount of courage and skill on display is massive, and apart from a few times where he falls off the high wire -- mainly when the balance tips too far to inward-looking lyrics or he strays too close to played-out trap territory -- this reboot just might win the band some new fans, while shedding none who have stayed the course thus far. ~ Tim Sendra

Product Details

Release Date:	03/29/2024
Label:	Drag City
UPC:	0781484090113
Rank:	63727

Tracks

1. Hey Panda
2. Fall Off the Mountain
3. Bade Amey
4. Sisters Friends
5. How the Best Was Won
6. The Grade
7. Yoga Goat
8. Stone Cold Slow
9. Torifan
10. Hungriest Man
11. The Water Moves
12. La Masse

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The High Llamas   Primary Artist