This combination of modern production styles brings the melodies to life as exemplified on the album’s opening title track. From its opening command to “put on your dancing shoes”, the song is infectious. It references O’Hagan’s lockdown fandom of a panda bear on TikTok that was known for eating giant carrots and the song has a cartoonish quality in its mix of loops, disjointed rhythms and compelling melody.
There is a constant wrong-footing and unpredictability within songs, exemplified by how ‘Fall Off The Mountain’ could be a fusion of two songs, switching between the subdued and resigned title part and an ecstatic R’n’B groove. ‘Bade Amey’ manages to mingle space age and Latin music while being full of traditional High Llama tempo changes.
One of the album’s absolute highlights is ‘Sisters Friends’ which starts with a seductive piano melody before guest Rae Morris’s lead vocals give it a folk meets gospel air. Hyperactive musical turns add vibrant colour to the song which traces the journey of a homeless man who makes a living playing a Japanese instrument called the Shakuhachi and his dog from London to the Isle of Wight.
There are two songwriting collaborations with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie who bonded with O’Hagan over their mutual love of gospel soul. The vocal manipulation and rhythmic changes of ‘How The Best Was One’ gives his voice an entirely new quality. There is a brief hint of ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue’ to ‘Hungriest Man’’s melody before the production whisks it into a revitalised state over the course of its five minutes, by far the album’s longest song.
‘Yoga Goat’ could be the title track’s adoptive sibling, starting with a relaxed, jazzy Steely Dan style vibe before bursting into a kaleidoscopic, cartoonish glitter rush. Most bands creating a groove as enticing as that of ‘Stone Cold Slow’ would hammer away relentlessly at it but High Llamas choose to drift into more ambient directions. In many ways, it is an ADHD record, although ‘Toriafan’ is about different learning struggles being a song about acquiring knowledge through action, speaking to those with dyslexia and reflecting O’Hagan’s struggles at school. It could be the cast of Sesame Street collaborating with Dorothy Ashby.
There is a melodic warmth to the laidback grooves of ‘The Water Moves’ while the album concludes with producer Fryars slicing and reforming the melody of ‘La Masse’.
At times. ‘Hey Panda’ shares the Dirty Projectors’ capacity to ally their indie background and melodic sensibility with R’n’B production to create a refreshing new sound. It is a triumph of mixing disparate styles, a love letter to J Dilla and Tyler the Creator composed by ‘Pet Sounds’ era Beach Boys.
High Llamas: Hey Panda – Out 29th March 2024 (Drag City)