{"id":10777,"date":"2011-05-12T17:58:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T17:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejoycollective.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10777"},"modified":"2011-05-24T12:56:33","modified_gmt":"2011-05-24T12:56:33","slug":"swn-presents-the-high-llamas-spencer-mcgarry-season-zervas-pepper-globe-cardiff-21-05-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/preview\/swn-presents-the-high-llamas-spencer-mcgarry-season-zervas-pepper-globe-cardiff-21-05-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Swn presents The High Llamas \/ Spencer McGarry Season \/ Zervas & Pepper : Globe, Cardiff : 21.05.11"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Middle-aged nerds rejoice!\u00a0 Everyone else, listen up:\u00a0 this is a bloody great booking from Swn.\u00a0Much has been made of Sean O\u2019Hagan\u2019s lovingly crafted paeans to Brian Wilson\u2019s ornate late 60s Beach Boys recordings, but in reality the High Llamas<\/strong> have absorbed numerous influences into a house style that rewards close attention; refracting shards of Tropicalia, lounge, library music, electronica and 1950s close harmony pop back to the listener.\u00a0 O\u2019Hagan has a meticulous, musicologist\u2019s touch reflecting a lengthy career as an in-demand producer and arranger, and at times songs have appeared almost pinned and labelled with a collector\u2019s dedication, acknowledging debts to genres or particular influences.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say they\u2019re merely dry exercises, though; the swooning Van Dyke Parks strings of Hawaii<\/em>, the burbling synths and twinkling syncopation of Cold And Bouncy<\/em> and Snowbug<\/em> recalling his parallel work with Stereolab and the open-windows springtime pop of this year\u2019s Talahomi Way<\/em> all offer some of the most beautifully crafted music these isles have offered in the last fifteen years.\u00a0 While the songwriting often seems secondary to the overarching mood, O\u2019Hagan\u2019s best work essays wry commentary on social and generational change, coming off like a seasoned traveller noting patterns in the varying surroundings conjured by his music.\u00a0 The band play very rarely these days, so this is an opportunity not to be missed; fans of Brian Wilson, Stereolab, The Sea & Cake, late-period XTC and timeless, exploratory pop songwriting should lap it up.<\/p>\n

If there’s ever been a support band whose musical outlook dovetailed more perfectly with the headliner than SPENCER MCGARRY SEASON<\/strong> do here, I’d be surprised. \u00a0Fronted by a well-read music theorist with a thirst for experimentation and a love for the Beach Boys, Jim O’Rourke and Steve Reich, produced by former High Llamas collaborator (and SMS bassist) Charlie Francis, meticulous arranger; this is McGarry’s gig. \u00a0It’s a slight shame that the full strings & brass 12-piece majesty won’t be present (space, time and budgets mean that a pared-down piano and vocal version of the band will perform) but the complex, witty, literate wonders of the epic Episode 2<\/em> album will remain, alongside previews of its electronica-based follow-up. \u00a0Pretty much unmissable.<\/p>\n

Date: Saturday – May 21, 2011 – 08:30 PM
\nLocation: The Globe – Cardiff – \u00a313
\nDoors Open 7:30 PM<\/p>\n

THE HIGH LLAMAS<\/p>\n

SPENCER McGARRY SEASON<\/p>\n

ZERVAS & PEPPER<\/p>\n

www.highllamas.com<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/spencermcgarry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middle-aged nerds rejoice!\u00a0 Everyone else, listen up:\u00a0 this is a bloody great booking from Swn.\u00a0Much has been made of Sean O\u2019Hagan\u2019s lovingly crafted paeans to Brian Wilson\u2019s ornate late 60s Beach Boys recordings, but in reality the High Llamas have absorbed numerous influences into a house style that rewards close attention; refracting shards of Tropicalia, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[458],"tags":[631,498,811,1991,1992],"class_list":["post-10777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-preview","tag-spencer-mcgarry-season","tag-swn","tag-the-globe","tag-the-high-llamas","tag-zervas-pepper"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}