Retrospectives, Rarities And Instrumentals

Post-rock guru Sean O’Hagan has always been one of the unsung heroes of Irish rock. Since the dissolution of Corkonian outfit Microdisney in the late eighties, O’Hagan has gone on to produce a fascinating body of work, serving as something of a link-man between the brilliantly off-kilter, Stereolab/Mouse On Mars Euro-experimentalist axis and the equally fecund Tortoise-led underground scene in Chicago.

However, O’Hagan’s main creative focus over the past ten years has been as singer, songwriter, producer and arrangers with the High Llamas, London-based purveyors of velvet-soft orchestral lounge-pop. The Llamas records are truly lush affairs, drawing on everything from Beach Boys-style dream pop-harmonies and continental, Gainsbourg-referencing strings to ethnic rhythms and mellow post-rock ambience to create a dazzling aural tapestry.

A 2-CD set, Retrospectives, Rarities And Instrumentals draws on the entirety of the Llamas work throughout the ’90s, and demonstrates that O’Hagan and co. quietly amassed a body of work that stands favourable comparison with any of their more famous contemporaries. CD 1 serves as a quasi-Greatest Hits set, featuring such 24-carat pop delights as ‘Checking In/Checking Out’ and the majestic orchestral fantasia of ‘Sparkle Up’. The second CD, meanwhile, gives well-deserved airings to a raft of curios mostly unreleased in this part of the world, including the joyous salsa grooves of ‘Vampo Brazil’ and the homely exotica of ‘Hi Ball Nova Scotia’.

A brilliantly diverse array of three minute pop gems and fearless sonic experimentation, Retrospective, Rarities And Instrumentals offers conclusive proof of the High Llamas status as one of the finest bands operating in the English independent scene.