Track of the Day: The High Llamas - 'Hey Panda'

Having shared their latest single, the title track from their forthcoming eleventh studio album, Hey Panda — the first new studio material from the band since 2016's Here Comes the Rattling Trees — last week marked the return of Anglo-Irish avant-pop band The High Llamas.

It's a charmingly off-kilter cut, as The High Llamas ruminate on the oft all too unconsidered relationship between humans and animals; O'Hagan crooning over an infectious soundscape of warm, plucky keyboards, swelling auto-tune and smooth drum-machine beats. The track is also accompanied by a delightfully offbeat, panda-centric music video, directed by Simon Russell.

High Llamas, 'Hey Panda' music video

Formed in 1992, The High Llamas are the longstanding musical project and brainchild of Irish maestro Sean O'Hagan, one half of Irish indie duo Microdisney, lauded composer, arranger, singer-songwriter and former member of Anglo-French pop combo Stereolab.

Recalling his creative process for 'Hey Panda' 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," he quips. "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!"

Choosing not to nostalgically draw upon the former golden ages of music past, as celebrated in earlier Llama's eras, Sean O' Hagan instead embraced new genres and forms for Hey Panda — notably finding himself opened up by the sounds of music his adult children brought into the home. Letting go of boundaries, O'Hagan allowed himself to experiment with more hip hop-inflected arrangements; sharing the impulse of late-period Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, with further sonic inspiration courtesy of Steve Lacy, SZA, Sault, Noname and Ezra Collective.

The High Llamas. L-R: Pete Aves, Dominic Murcott, Marcus Holdaway, Sean O'Hagan, Jon Fell, Rob Allum.

"I'm 64. Have made 40 records. Scored 8 films. And arranged for many," O' Hagan explained. 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. I probably have one artistic record left at 64. So this record had to address what I have come to love," he continues. "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..."

Navigating the ever-changing depths of modern pop music, Hey Panda is a sonically rich suite of quirky avant-pop excellence, one such that could only originate from the High Llamas' very own quadrant of the galaxy. Throughout its 12 tracks, the record soulfully projects through a disarming abstract of today’s popular music; the richness of the band's stately melodies and idiosyncratic ditties laid open, in an eclectic array of genre-fusing atmospherics. With beat-heavy drums and slick vocals drawing from the world of hip-hop, the record is brimful of musical reinvention and innovation. Slated for a March release, the record is bound to be a welcome return to form, as the band return in characteristically quirky High Llamas form.

With 'Hey Panda' the High Llamas land themselves firmly in the new and the now, straight back to doing what they do best — pushing the very boundaries of music itself...

Check out 'Hey Panda,' the new single from The High Llamas below: