Across Gideon Gaye and Hawaii, electronic elements played an increasingly prominent role in the Llamas’ work: the drum machines that popped up on the former’s Easy Rod and Little Collie gave way to the gurgling electronics that characterized so much of Hawaii‘s segues and interstitial tracks. On Cold and Bouncy, the electronics take centre stage.

The release of Hawaii further increased the band’s profile, to the extent that a collaboration between the Beach Boys and O’Hagan was briefly on the cards, but never came to fruition. In a 2016 interview, O’Hagan recalled that several tracks were presented backstage to members of the Beach Boys before the proposed collaboration fell through and that several were ultimately released on Cold And Bouncy.

In numerous interviews, O’Hagan cited the work of Mouse on Mars, Microstoria, Oval French DJ Étienne de Crécy’s Super Discount project as as a key influence on the album, though the work of artists outside the genre such as Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, Francis Lai and Michel Legrand also proved influential.

O’Hagan has described the making of the album “an intensive couple of months where I wasn’t sure whether I was making a good record or a bad record. […] I think I experienced stress for the first time making a record.” Stereolab’s Andy Ramsay was a key collaborator during the recording process and in a 2011 interview, O’Hagan recalled that he “created so much sound and taught us a whole new discipline in experiment”. In addition, for the first time since Santa Barbara, a female voice was featured in the form of Kelsey Michael, who guested on the track Glide Time. Although Charlie Francis did not return to produce, Kevin Hopper, who also provided artwork for Gideon Gaye and Hawaii, returned to provide artwork for Cold and Bouncy.

Following the release of Hawaii, the Llamas jumped ship with Jeremy Pearce from Sony to V2, who released Cold and Bouncy in January 1998. According to a review in Spin Magazine, the title was inspired by “electronica’s paradoxical marriage of digital chill and boisterous beats”. Nine months later, V2 issued Lollo Rosso, a remix album featuring contemporaries and collaborators such as Shibuya-Kei great Cornelius and future Drag City labelmate Jim O’Rourke reworking songs from Cold and Bouncy. It was later reissued by Drag City on vinyl as part of their reissue campaign in 2024.