HIGH LLAMAS Hey Panda H H H Drag City

• Published date: 28 March 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

Hey Panda is the first High Llamas album since 2016, although O’Hagan has not been resting on his laurels in the intervening years. Recent collaborative credits include work on The Coral’s recent album Sea of Mirrors, the soundtrack to the film Funny Games (produced by the Safdie brothers) and a contribution to Wish You Were Gay, a Billie Eilish cover by Bonnie “Prince” Billy (who also cowrote two songs here) and Bill Callahan. It’s safe to say that he remains as difficult to categorise as ever

Hey Panda is testament to O’Hagan’s mercurial creativity. Every song here is an offbeat pop odyssey, packed tightly with imagination in the form of odd key changes, a multitude of vocal effects and songs that sound as though they were cut and pasted from a kooky musical scrapbook. That’s more pleasing that it might sound on paper; the title track, with its hip-hop production and gloopy, slow-drip melody, is a delight. It’s also one of several songs here that liberally uses AutoTune; The Grade and the soulful How the Best Was Won both push the boundaries of O’Hagan’s idiosyncratic style and willingness to experiment. It’s easy to see...