Radum Calls, Radum Calls cover

Radum Calls, Radum Calls

Released

For his first solo album since 1990, O’Hagan carries through some ideas from his days as leader of The High Llamas, but enlivens those approaches with lessons learned from recent R&B and hip-hop – Tyler The Creator, Tierra Whack, Noname – while digging deep into his own history, by reconnecting with Cathal O’Coughlan, the singer of O’Hagan’s first band, Microdisney. So, narratives collapse on Radum Calls, and so, in some ways, does O’Hagan’s vision of the pop song, to be replaced by clacking Brazilian grooves through “On A Lonely Day (Ding, Dong),” piano-driven mantras on “Spoken Gem,” and flighty, bitcrushed grooves on “Candy Clock.” O’Hagan always sounds inspired, but here his aesthetic seems to collide more naturally with what’s going on in popular culture, and it works, beautifully.

Jon Dale

Recommended by

Suggestions
Harmony Avenue cover

Harmony Avenue

Jade Hairpins
Game Preserve cover

Game Preserve

Bart Davenport
Two Vines cover

Two Vines

Empire of the Sun
Gideon Gaye cover

Gideon Gaye

The High Llamas
The BBC Sessions cover

The BBC Sessions

Belle and Sebastian
Veiculo cover

Veiculo

To Rococo Rot
LP cover

LP

Discovery
Last Place cover

Last Place

Grandaddy
City Life cover

City Life

Manishevitz