High Llamas "Snowbug" 2xLP

The High Llamas' classic '90s output comes back to life on vinyl for the first time in over twenty years. The vibrant and colorful sweep of their remarkable six-album arc shines in new pressings of the original masters, which include the first-ever vinyl pressing for their debut album, Santa Barbara. The High Llamas were founded by Sean O'Hagan, Jon Fell, Marcus Holdaway, and Rob Allum. During the emerging electro-exotica trend of the late '90s, O'Hagan conceived another shift for the next album -- a stripped-back sound, with lots of acoustic guitars, influenced by folk movements in Latin and world music. Stereolab's Mary Hansen (forever remembered) and Laetitia Sadier were drafted in to sing vocals, and sessions were split between London and Chicago, where Jim O'Rourke and Bundy K. Brown engineered at Electrical Audio, and Tortoise's John McEntire mixed it down at Soma. Snowbug was a lovely album, with great songs and sounds pirouetting away from the Hawaii/Cold & Bouncy phases with ease and elegance.