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High Llamas Welcome Canadian Flavour To Can Cladders
Wednesday March 21, 2007 @ 06:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

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The High Llamas

For more than a decade, Sean O'Hagan and his High Llamas have been churning out some of the finest indie pop known to man. In stark contrast to the dour themes explored by many U.K. acts of the moment, the songs of the High Llamas are sunny, smart and always brimming with a calm tunefulness that's hard to ignore. In short, this is indie rock that you could easily bring home to mom and dad.

O'Hagan takes his cues from such pop luminaries as Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, and ensures that his songs never leave the studio without the requisite care and craftsmanship that his fans have come to expect. Whether it's a few strums of the banjo or strikes of the glockenspiel, there's serious attention to detail at work here. And the Llamas' latest full-length, Can Cladders, is no exception.

Now seven albums into the Llamas' career (plus a previous life as part of the Irish new wave act Microdisney), O'Hagan says the urge to record comes a bit less frequently these days, and he always wants to ensure that the product is crisp and engaging before putting the Llamas' name on it.

"When you're in your forties like I am, you need to wait for that inspiration to hit you. This helps to force yourself to stay fresh, and that doesn't come quickly when you've been writing music for as long as I have. That's why a lot of young bands seemingly have an advantage because, when you're 18, you just can't wait to visit the recording studio and get your songs out the door."

While the High Llamas have slowly built a solid North American fanbase since the early '90s (the band's 1994 Gideon Gaye album was widely regarded as one of the decade's best), the band still very much exist at the "cult" level and tour support for each record is never guaranteed.

"It's MySpace downloads and web activity that really dictates whether or not a band at our level tours or not," says O'Hagan in reference to the still-undecided tour plans for Can Cladders. "It used to be record sales or maybe radio play, but that's really changed in the last five years.

"There are a lot more indicators now to judge success, which is something that took us a while to realize."

Regardless of whether the Llamas hit the road in 2007, O'Hagan will definitely be able to fill the hours with a number of production gigs currently underway. As a collaborator, O'Hagan picks his spots wisely and he's worked with some of the finest names in modern indie pop, including Sondre Lerche, Doves and Cornelius. And in the last few months alone, O'Hagan contributed strings to the next record from Welsh wackos Super Furry Animals and composed a soundtrack to the upcoming French film, La Vie D'Artiste, with longtime collaborator Time Gane from Stereolab.

O'Hagan would certainly be open to more film work.

"I'm still waiting for Martin Scorsese to call and discuss his next film score with me," he jokes. "That's definitely something I'd be up for."

But O'Hagan would also be interested in working again with his favourite Canadian band of the moment, Halifax's Heavy Blinkers. The Maritime orchestral rockers played live with O'Hagan on multiple occasions during their recent European tours, and O'Hagan states that the admiration is mutual, proving that true pop prowess is able to transcend borders.

"It's a real pity that [the Heavy Blinkers] aren't more well-known in Canada because I loved their last couple of albums and I just think they're great people and great musicians. Dave Christiensen from the band actually plays a bit on Can Cladders. He was around visiting at that time we were recording, so I forced him to grab his clarinet and join in. So I guess you could say the Llamas have a bit of a Canadian flavour this time around."

—Cameron Gordon