The High Llamas
+ Citizen Helene
Thursday 1 December : 8pm
£12.00 adv : £14.00 door
For the past eighteen years, The High Llamas have been following their own lights, making records, and essentially occupying their own genre in doing so. Their music is timeless; elements of retro and modern share the space, creating a unique time and place that is outside the lines of history as we experience it. Talahomi Way is the latest evolution in their body of work, a record that will please those who enjoy their musical adventures while also providing a draft of their eternal mystery to neophyte listeners.
The High Llamas’ catalog on Drag City has been a set of sculpted records with two carefully ordered sides, featuring all the elements that albums do when arrayed in a two-sided format. The material is pared down to essential qualities both within the songs and within the album as a whole. The composing moves apace; Sean O’Hagan’s songs are not written until there is an album to write them for (and until there is, Sean is busy with arrangements, commisions, and other collaborations and commitments outside The High Llamas) and each album is given a musical focus that mirrors The High Llamas’ recent exploration of musical worlds. In the four years since their last album, Can Cladders, no writing or recording occurred until there was new alchemy afoot, reinventing the musical wheels The High Llamas have ridden throughout their journey.
In the course of their post-millennial albums, The High Llamas sound has shifted subtly into a more organic setting — gone are the slick, electric-band settings of their great 90s albums Gideon Gaye, Hawaii and the rest. With 2003’s Beet Maize and Corn, Can Cladders (2007), and now Talahomi Way, their arrangements have breathed with acoustic space, giving the music a more intimate, personal resonance. Still, O’Hagan’s lyric-writing is in the great traditions of the American and British 20th century songbook: story-songs, impressionistic feel-pieces, crafted without an aim towards personal exposition.
Even so, their set and focus provide a view to the world as he sees it. The music of The High Llamas creates an uplifting experience for both the performers and listeners. Whether wistful or melancholy, the emotional peaks of these experiences are highlighted by the sounds in the grooves. Like citizens of the old empire, The High Llamas explore the world of music and sound, seeking stimulus for their appreciation for history they have come to expect from life as they know it. When all these things click, then space is cleared on the board for their new sensations in sound.
Mixed by Tim Gane and featuring the splendid arrangements provided by the band (Rob Allum, Pete Aves, Jon
Fell, Sean O’Hagan, Marcus Holdaway and Dominic Murcott), Talahomi Way is a new chapter in the song-andstorybook of The High Llamas.
Didball
