Tuesday, February 17

Grouper: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

I owe a few good discoveries to Pitchfork, but Grouper has got to be in the top five. When I began checking out their list of the best albums of 1998, (many of which were a let down for me), I tried out Grouper, who ranks at number 37. Here is what they had to say about her album:

"Grouper is Portland, Oregon's Liz Harris, drenched in so much reverb that she sounds almost intangible-- like a voice calling up from the bottom of the ocean. On Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, Harris' third full record as Grouper, a few meager shafts of light are finally allowed to penetrate the mix: A gently strumming acoustic guitar reappears regularly, and Harris' words are, for the first time, occasionally discernible. These tiny hints of accessibility are just enough to deepen the music's essential mysteriousness, to make us feel tantalizingly close to Harris before she's gone again, the echoes of her breathy coo humming in our ear." --Jayson Greene

I couldn't put it better myself. She's a new favourite for me. You can listen to one of her songs here, or read more about her on her label's site, Type.

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