Sean O’Hagan has announced Hey Panda, the first album from his group the High Llamas since 2016. The follow-up to Here Come the Rattling Trees arrives March 29 via Drag City. The title track is out now alongside a video directed by Simon Russell, and you can check it out below.
“I spent lock down and recovery as a TikTok fan of a Panda bear who ate giant carrots every day,” O’Hagan said in a statement about ‘Hey Panda’. “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.”
Speaking about the LP, O’Hagan added: “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
Hey Panda includes two co-writes from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, with whom O’Hagan collaborated on a cover of Billie Eilish’s ‘wish you were gay’ in 2020.
Hey Panda Cover Artwork:
Hey Panda Tracklist:
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. Toriafan
10. Hungriest Man
11. The Water Moves
12. La Masse
