Hey Panda

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You never quite know what you'll get with a new High Llamas album. That's certainly not a complaint—but a reflection of the insatiable curiosity and adventurous spirit of the band's founder and leader Sean O'Hagan. In recent times, he embarked on typically eclectic projects, including scoring the Safdie Brothers' 2022 film Funny Pages and contributing to The Coral's 2023 album Sea of Mirrors.

For Hey Panda—the first High Llamas album since 2016's antique-pop opus Here Come the Rattling Trees—O'Hagan was inspired by the world-shifting production of the late J Dilla. "Dilla reshaped the world," he has said. "We live in the finest non-judgmental 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."

It's a lofty goal, but Hey Panda successfully weaves together elements from all of those genres, encompassing bubbly pop ("Bade Amey"), glitchy beats (the hip-hop-influenced "Toriafan"), and whimsical electro (the strings-augmented "Sister Friends"). O'Hagan's spirit of collaboration is also strong. "How the Best Was Won" and "Hungriest Man" are co-writes with Bonnie "Prince" Billy and, unsurprisingly, both are highlights: The former resembles the watery electro of James Blake, while the latter is dreamy soul-folk.

Hey Panda isn't totally divorced from the High Llamas' past; among other things, the sun-kissed bubblegum electro highlight "Fall Off the Mountain" is a higher-energy version of 1998's Cold and Bouncy. But O'Hagan's songwriting feels strikingly modern on Hey Panda—leading to refreshing (and refreshed) pop music that's a pure delight. © Annie Zaleski/Qobuz