High Llamas, The
Hawaii (reissue)
Looking for greater distribution, The High Llamas signed to V2 - an arm of Universal - and next produced two widescreen epics for the 90s: Hawaii and Cold And Bouncy. Hawaii (1996) charted an alternative path to and through America, discovering fresh iterations of exotica, soundtrack expressionism and jazz, forming a singular conception of neo-Americana in its exquisite sweep. It was not simply gorgeous; it utterly elided any concept of aggro; this was hand-made, non-heavy music at a new level of purity.