interesting, nearly orchestral ways, but they were using subversive sounds to do it." The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray remarked that without the Beach Boys' 1968 album Friends, "the High Llamas probably wouldn't exist." After attending a Stereolab concert in the early 1990s, O'Hagan met the band's founders Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier. He became their keyboardist, initially as a temporary replacement, but O'Hagan was "allowed to make suggestions and the fun started." His first record appearance was on the EP Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (1993), and he remained a full-time member of the band until Mars Audiac Quintet (1994). Influenced by his time with Gane, O'Hagan decided to revamp his creative aspirations for the High Llamas. In a 1997 article, O'Hagan spoke of the Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds as "the beginning of the great pop experiment, [before] rock and roll got hold of the whole thing and stopped it," and intended his new band to carry on in a similar tradition. He continued to make guest appearances on later Stereolab releases. Visser departed the group and was replaced by guitarist John Bennett. Gideon Gaye–Snowbug In 1994, the High Llamas released Gideon Gaye, an album that reached 94 on the UK Albums Chart for a one-week stay. It was recorded with a £4000 budget in the span of a few months, and anticipated the mid 1990s easy-listening fad. The album received press coverage from magazines such as Q, Mojo and NME, but only received substantial sales and acclaim after being rereleased a year later. It was first reissued on the band's Alpaca Parks imprint, then by Delmore Recordings in the United States, and once more by the major label Epic Records. British music journalists praised Gideon Gaye, but AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger stated that the album was released "almost as an afterthought [in the US], with virtually no fanfare." Also in 1994, the High Llamas accompanied Arthur Lee, co-founder of the 1960s band Love, as his backing band for a brief concert tour. Gideon Gaye was well-received from within the record industry, and it became a commonly recommended album among British A&R label representatives. The band were soon tagged as part of the nascent "ork-pop" movement, described in a 1996 Billboard piece as "a new breed of popsmiths going back to such inspirations as Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, and Phil Spector in the quest for building the