NCH Landmarks: The High Llamas - Hawaii

NCH Landmarks: The High Llamas - Hawaii

About the show

The High Llamas discover America. Hawaii is a wide-screen epic, stretching through realms of classic pop and jazz, soundtrack music, exotica and neo-Americana, while charting a journey through musical landscapes of abiding lightness. For this one off-show, an expanded The High Llamas are joined by strings and brass to perform their critically acclaimed and much-loved masterpiece. 

In 1990, Sean O’Hagan was emerging from a high-flying eight year run with Microdisney. They disbanded in ’89, and for Sean, this meant finding a voice — no longer writing with “one of the great lyricists and vocalists,” as he recalls his late Microdisney partner Cathal Coughlan, he was challenged to see a path forward as singer and lyricist as well as composer and arranger. This challenge led to the emergence of one of the most unique new sounds of the 1990s.

The High Llamas were founded by  Sean, Jon Fell, Marcus Holdaway and Rob Allum. After debuting as a tart and sweet guitar-pop act on Santa Barbara, Sean fell in with Stereolab. His adventures in their art-band collective profoundly influenced the delightful extremities that were to come. Gideon Gaye was written and recorded on a small budget with almost military resolve. Shifting to a piano-based sound and obsessively chasing retro aspects of 60s and 70s production to dizzying new heights, The High Llamas put a marvelously austere frame around O’Hagan’s already-filmic song constructions. Gideon Gaye gobsmacked grunge-soaked listeners with its new twist on classic art-pop design elements.

The High Llamas signed to V2, producing two 90s widescreen epics: Hawaii and Cold And Bouncy. Hawaii (1996) charted an alternative path through America, combining exotica, soundtrack expressionism and jazz into a singular conception of neo-Americana. One year later, Cold and Bouncy delivered again, organically incorporating glitch, dub and electronic inspirations from the underground into the Llamas signature sound.

Following these releases, The High Llamas’ popularity was ascendant. O’Hagan’s arrangement skills were called upon by groups like Saint Etienne, Super Furry Animals, Doves and Sondre Lerche. With Lollo Rosso (1998), the assembled remixers — Mouse On Mars, Jim O’Rourke, Kid Loco, Schneider TM, Stock, Hausen & Walkman, Cornelius and The High Llamas themselves — provided a scintillating trip through the cutting edge of avant electronics — yet another unique set of variations for the Llamas’ sound to filter though.

The High Llama’s latest release is the acclaimed Hey Panda. 

This special performance offers a rare opportunity to experience a seminal chapter of 1990s art-pop.

Presented by NCH

Topics

GigsTrad & FolkJazz & Blues

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