The High Llamas to Debut First Album in Eight Years 'Hey Panda' in March

Today marks the return of The High Llamas - the longstanding musical project of acclaimed songwriter/producer/arranger Sean O'Hagan - who have announced their 11th studio album, Hey Panda, for a March 29, 2024 release via Drag City. In conjunction, the group has released the title-track single, along with a video from director Simon Russell. Pre-order/save Hey Panda here.

Discussing the “Hey Panda” single, O'Hagan notes, "I spent lock down and recovery as a TikTok fan of a Panda bear who ate giant carrots every day. It made me so happy. I think as crazy as TikTok is, it also fosters a community, especially between us and animals… not sure if the animals know. I wanted it to be a Khalid meets Disclosure tune. The subs picking up every beat. But as it's High Llamas… the key changes are there…sorry."

Hey Panda - the first new High Llamas record since 2016 - is a modern pop music, deep listening experience, that could only issue forth from their very own quadrant of the galaxy. Throughout its 12 songs, Hey Panda projects soulfully through an enervating abstract of today's popular music; the sound of the Llamas' stately melodies and expressive ditties laid open - blissfully shattered - with drums and vocals hitting different, burning sounds and contemporary production twists pulling the ear at every turn.

Discussing the project as a whole, O'Hagan adds, "I'm 64. Have made 40 records. Scored 8 films. And arranged for many. I love the pop aesthetic, especially the fresh and the naive. When I heard J Dilla in the early 2000s, I thought that was the great renewal of contemporary pop production. I did not have the language or skill set  to go there. I was also afraid of being judged. So I avoided, or only hinted at this sound. I'm mainly an invisible contributor to music in my day job. I probably have one artistic record left at 64. So this record had to address what I have come to love. Dilla reshaped the world. We live in the finest non judgemental musical times  where the legacies of soul, jazz and lo fi indie  have produced a hybrid of generous and stunning creativity.  I want 'Hey Panda' to be of this generation."

For the past few decades, High Llamas have trafficked in contemporary pop sounds directed toward the avant end of the spectrum as much as not. But here the message was clear… O'Hagan was determined to let go. Hey Panda does just that, with a set of tunes reflecting on multiple levels how definitions change over the course of a lifetime, radiating an optimism derived from the diverse conundrums of today.

Choosing not to look backward to former golden ages celebrated in earlier Llamas eras, Sean instead found himself opened up by the sounds of music brought into the house by his adult children and the sounds encountered at sessions for which he's recently written arrangements.

In addition to the more traditional contributions he made to The Coral's 2023 Sea of Mirrors album, plus his score for the Safdie Brothers' 2022 film production, Funny Pages, Sean's drawn great inspiration through working with Fryars, Rae Morris, King Krule, Pearl and The Oysters, while also soaking up the work of Tierra Whack and Chicago's Pivot Gang, and being cheered on from a distance by long-time admirer Tyler, The Creator.

Thus, Sean's producer procedural has evolved again, with upgrades first detected in his 2019 solo effort, Radum Calls, Radum Calls. With a cover of Billie Eilish's “wish you were gay” arranged for Bill Callahan and Bonnie “Prince” Billy's Blind Date Party, along with his COVID-era solo single, “The Wild Are Welcome,” Sean has leveled up again and again, leading to the delirious revelations of Hey Panda.

Hey Panda's wide reach is aided by two co-writes from Bonnie “Prince” Billy (who bonded with Sean over a shared love of gospel soul during writing sessions) on “How The Best Was Won” and “Hungriest Man”, guest vocals from Rae Morris and Sean's daughter Livvy, additional production twists from Fryars, and the stalwart, flexible presence of High Llamas.

For all of its sense of departure, Hey Panda is a movement in the High Llamas oeuvre that's been a long time in development. Aspects of soul music were addressed at the time of Can Cladders; similarly, aspects of electronic dance music were in the mix in the late 90s, around the time of Cold and Bouncy.

But nothing up to now has refocused the music of High Llamas so completely. Sharing the impulse of late-period Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, with further inspiration from Steve Lacy, SZA, Sault, Noname and Ezra Collective, among many others, Sean O'Hagan and High Llamas are living joyfully in the new and the now, with Hey Panda!

Photo Credit: Simon Russell

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