44. Sean O’Hagan
Illustration by Taylor W. Rushing
I could not be more excited to present my conversation with one of my all-time favorite musicians, the incomparable Sean O’Hagan. Sean’s first major band was the Irish 1980s pop group Microdisney. After that group disbanded, he started recording with his next project, the High Llamas, who released some of the most beautiful pop music of the last 30 years. Recently, he has dropped the High Llamas moniker in favor of his own name. The latest Sean O’Hagan album is “Radum Calls, Radum Calls.” No, there’s not an echo in here. Sean and I speak about the stylistic transitions between his projects, joining the band Stereolab, working with Bonnie Prince Billy, how he came to be one of the today’s most in-demand musical arrangers, his recent bout with cancer, and his love of soul music. After the interview, he shares an exclusive recording he and his daughter Livvy made specifically for this episode, and I share my gratitude for all the terrific people who contributed to this amazing season. Sean spoke to me from his home in England earlier this year.
Explore Sean O’Hagan’s world of music:
An acoustic Sly and The Family Stone cover from Sean and Livvy, recorded exclusively for Low Profile!
Here’s the 2020 single by Sean and his daughter Livvy, about people in lockdown and animals roaming the streets.
Sean’s latest solo album Radum Calls, Radum Calls on bandcamp.
From the High Llamas sophomore record “Gideon Gaye,” the official video for “Checking In, Checking Out.”
From the High Llamas album “Snowbug,” here’s the video for “Bach Ze” featuring vocals by Stereolab’s Mary Hansen and Lætitia Sadier.
Here we are at the end of a very ambitious and experimental fourth season. It’s been such a pleasure to produce these episodes, and it would not have been possible without the generous contributions of so many people, including you, the listener, so first of all thanks to you for giving my hard work an audience. And then to the amazing line-up of guests this season. Sean O’Hagan, OK Vancouver OK, Jonny Fritz, Gretchen Christopher, Allison O’Donnell, Ed Wilcox, Mark Hosler, The Wurst Nightmare, Alice Stuart, Jeffrey Lewis, Briana Marela, a big thanks and “We’re not worthy” to all of you. I’m also filled with gratitude for all the people who contributed to this past season, like all the correspondent hosts we heard from earlier this year: Jack Habegger, Eli Moore, Rob Smith, and the previous featured guests who took on the role of hosting, Karl Blau and Henry Barnes.
Also, as you may have noticed, this was the first time a season of the show had a “look,” and that’s all thanks to the amazing portraits of each featured guest, drawn for your visual pleasure by Taylor W. Rushing. He has an illustration business called Not Bad Illustrations, you should totally hire him for your next endeavor, you can find his previous work and lots of aesthetically delicious merchandise and taylorwrushing.com
Thanks to my fam at San Francisco Street Bakery and newly reopened Schwartz’s Deli in Olympia, Washington for in-kind support from the very beginning,
And finally, a big shout out to my Patreon supporters. It means so much to me that this work means so much to you. And anybody else who would like to chip in and help this show exist, you can visit patreon.com/lowprofile