A good way to get my attention? The words “Strings written by Sean O’Hagan.” On grande est la maison, the High Llamas leader’s arrangements are typically gorgeous, crisp and quizzical. Throw in vocals by Bonnie Prince Billy? Well, you’ve got even more of my attention. But wait! Competing for MVP here is the new-to-me singer Kate Stables, whose contributions are absolutely beautiful. Of course, we’ve got to mention the guy who is putting this whole thing together — Thomas jean henri. All in all, cabane’s grande est la maison is a totally wonderful song suite, a folk-pop jewel box of lovely songwriting, wistful melodies and fingerpicked acoustic guitar. With lyrics like letters sent between distant lovers, it almost feels like a stage musical — but not in the cliched sense. This is an intimate affair, a world unto itself.
This theme of the telenovela Minha Doce Namorada was composed by Dori Caymmi (Dorival son) and Nelson Motta. This delicate instrumental shares something of the quiet side Brian Wilson showed on the Beach Boys album Friends that influenced so much the High Llamas.
The High Llamas - Union Chapel, London, England, January 28, 2017
Kind of rare to come across live Llamas, so thanks to Big O for this recording of a recent London gig, which showcases the band’s last LP, Here Come The Rattling Trees. There are also plenty of old favorites from the past 25 years or so, including the closing “Track Goes By,” which is on my shortlist for Best Song Ever.
And hey, since Junkmedia is no more, I’m reprinting my 10-year-old interview with head High Llama Sean O’Hagan here. Check it.
Bands – and trends – come and go, these days more rapidly than ever before. And then there's the High Llamas, who over the course of 15-plus years and eight albums have floated high above the fray, making music that's both enormously accessible and steadfastly exploratory. Once the first note of a High Llamas record comes spiraling out of your headphones, you're in Llama Land—a musical environment filled with wonderfully inventive melodies, soaring string arrangements and curiously cryptic storytelling. By sticking to their singular musical script, the band has maintained a close-to-perfect track record. Their latest, Can Cladders (Drag City), sees no drop-off in quality or inspiration. Over thirteen bubbling, infectious songs, the band creates another otherworldly masterpiece. We chatted with head High Llama Sean O'Hagan about jazz harpists, lazy music critics (gulp!) and Brazilian iconoclasts, among other topics.
OK, you've stumped me: What in God's name are Can Cladders?
It's from you guys in the US. You sold aluminum cladding in the 60s to the upper working classes and the song features one of those salesmen. I coined the word (term, phrase) and I liked it.
This new album is the band's eighth, and over the years you've managed to keep the lineup remarkably stable – a real rarity, it seems. What's the secret to keeping a band together over such a long period of time?
We have a friendship that extends beyond music. We have also been berated in the UK for not giving up or getting on board as a guitar band (or a whatever the moment in Britain happens to be). We just follow the Llama line and suffer and then benefit for not changing. When you go through that you stick together. We would not dream of changing the lineup. We have very different lives outside the band and get together every now and again, make a record or tour. We articulate this music to each other.
Can Cladders is notable for its prominent addition of female vocals. Obviously you've worked with female vocalists in the past, but this seems a little different than previous outings. What led you in this direction
Listening to Laura Nyro albums, the ones she made with Labelle, listening to Minnie Ripperton's first band The Gems, as well as Laurie label girl groups and the Chiffons. I met Winnie Asmah, Sylvia Arthur and Tania Degale while working on the Musical Wheel project. They sing gospel and R&B. I played them these records, which surprised them. I worked hard with them and they finally came to love these moments in black music history. It was good to finally work with gospel singers because it's music that meant a lot to me over the years.
One thing that's remained fairly constant on High Llamas records is the abundance of beautiful string arrangements. They always seem like integral parts of the songs, rather than mere ornamentation (as on a lot of "string-laden" pop music). What's the key to making strings really work in the High Llamas' music? Is there anyone else out there these days that you think is doing string arrangements well?
I love writing vibrant and puzzling chord changes, and it just so happens that when you orchestrate those changes they just jump up. Strings bring good changes alive. The counter point tunes you lay over the changes literally suggest themselves. One good line immediately points to a developing possibility, which sometimes works – and when it does it really sounds like you know what you are doing. Right now the other arranger I love is Bertrand Burgalet from Paris. Louis Philip, another French guy working in the UK, is a great string writer. I loved Bernard Hermann on strings as well as brass. Pierro Piccioni from Italy, Michel Legrand and David Whittaker - all these guys work in films.
A quick glance through the High Llamas press coverage over the years shows that writers are constantly referring to the band as Beach Boys-esque or Bacharach-esque. Do you think these comparisons are apt? Or at this point is it just lazy journalism? Are there any artists/genres/albums that have played a big part in the High Llamas music that never get mentioned?
Well, I of course love the Beach Boys and have been emphatically influenced by them and Bacharach. But yes, very lazy journalism has all but ruined us. When the guys who take a pop at you and write their mush, they do it with an aggression that they feel comfortable with because we are "nice intellectual guys" who will not bite back. It's a tragedy: Rob Alum (drummer) and I started out in life as construction workers and never went to college.If we stayed with the Beach Boys we would be lazy. But have they (the press) never heard Jorgé Ben or Milton Nascimento/Lo Borges or Shuggie Otis or Mingus or Benjamin Britten, Bob Lind, Francois Du Rubaix? They and many more are the stuff we listen to [and are influenced by]. What's wrong with that? Thank you for giving me the stage for a moment. The Brazilian guys Caetano [Veloso] and Lo Borges are important. They wrote advanced pop without sounding like hacks. [Ennio] Morricone wrote pop arrangements in "B" movies that I constantly refer to. Gainsbourg had a way with gritty pop that again had great arrangements. You see it's not about being cool and being invited to the party. It's about chords. That's what keeps me happy. And outside music, I adhere to community responsibility and the harassment of immoral politics with militancy. I am not interested in after shows. A rant, I know, but most of the critics who plague us are shallow and lazy and have no politics apart from the politics of self-gratification.
Is it my imagination, or is there a narrative thread running through Can Cladders? Or at least a conceptual unity to the lyrics? Is it all about jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby? Can you tell me a bit about how she made it into the cast of characters on this album?
Dorothy Ashby occupied my mind for a while and I had to write about her. The range of sound she used and the free form art she practiced was very affecting and for a few weeks I just thought she made the best sound around. I was DJing and played her stuff and the reaction was profound. Can Cladders has a bit of a narrative, aspects of people finding a place in rural England mostly, and that seems to include asylum seekers. I write about hopeless cases, but fondly. Dorothy slipped in there as a positive lighter moment.
One thing that strikes me about all of your records is how elegant and perfectly-put-together they sound. Would you consider yourself a perfectionist?
Nowhere near as perfectionist as one might think. I just stick to what I know and do not clutter the sound with unworkable extra baggage. I am a bit of a one trick pony but I can only think that I've reinvented the trick a few times unwittingly. Elegant, maybe. I love texture and harmony. My enemies think I'm precious. No way. I'm a mess at home and spend most of my time looking after my two great children, playing a lot of football and then entering the world of writing where I invoke those who have influenced my band and try to invent. Mostly that's a textured, haunting time for me, alone at the piano or with a nylon acoustic guitar.
What are your plans for taking Can Cladders to the stage? Is there a US tour in the works? Is it a challenge, once you've completed the album, to translate such intricate songs to live performance?
The challenge is always welcome. I hope America will like the LP and the promoters who took a chance on us a few years back will want to see us back in the US. We would so love to tour again. I consider myself lucky each time we do it. So keep your fingers crossed for it to happen.
