by request
Artist Biography
by J. Scott McClintock
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and arranger
Sean O'Hagan founded his first significant band in Cork, Ireland, in the early '80s. Along with songwriting partner
Cathal Coughlan and an ever revolving group of musicians, that band,
Microdisney,
achieved admirable U.K. popularity with their literate and often
politically tinged brand of indie pop. After relocating to London in
1982,
Microdisney
continued to release albums that were critically acclaimed (but not big
movers in the record stores) until late 1988, when the group disbanded.
Coughlan went on to form
the Fatima Mansions, while
O'Hagan channeled his creative energies into his own solo project.
O'Hagan's debut solo album,
High Llamas, didn't cause much of a stir when it was released in 1990, but the
Beach Boys-inspired instrumentation (and general West Coast smoothness) of the record gave a glimpse into where things were headed.
O'Hagan formed
the High Llamas, soon after his same-named solo effort, as a vehicle to indulge his baroque pop/
Beach Boys/electronic interests, and released their first album,
Santa Barbara, in 1992.
Also during this time,
O'Hagan took up with electronic lounge purveyors
Stereolab, remaining with the band as a full-time member until the release of 1994's
Mars Audiac Quintet, but continuing to guest on subsequent releases. The collaboration went both ways, with
Stereolab's
Mary Hansen guesting on
the High Llamas' 1999 album
Snowbug as well as 2000's
Buzzle Bee.
O'Hagan also collaborated with
Stereolab founder
Tim Gane (on their one-off side project
Turn On from 1996) and continued to spread the creativity around by working with
Will Oldham's group
Palace Songs, Japanese electronic wizard
Cornelius, and a host of other notable artists throughout the late '90s. In 2003,
the Llamas' seventh album,
Beet, Maize & Corn,
delighted critics with its almost exclusive use of string, brass, and
woodwind arrangements -- elements that would carry over (but not
dominate) their exquisite early-2007 effort,
Can Cladders. Toward the end of that year,
Gane and
O'Hagan collaborated a second time for the soundtrack to the French comedy La Vie d'Artiste.
