I stumbled upon Grouper randomly perusing some blogs I keep in my bookmarks. I downloaded it on a whim as it was described as ambient/folk/shoegaze. Interested in seeing how folky shoegaze would sound, I listened to the first track and knew that I had found something special. “Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill” is the 3rd album from Portland based musician Liz Harris. To define her music as folky shoegaze is incomplete. Her songs exist as hazy memories, lacking in detail, yet full enough to trigger a nexus of emotions difficult to describe. The instrumentation is mostly limited to layered vocals, electric piano and down-stroked guitar with the production quality weaving in and out of lo-fi. The sonic world that the album creates has a quiet intensity slowing submerging the listener.
I’ve taken a message from the MySpace page explaining her sounds better than I ever could:
dragging a dead deer in my ears feels like the relief of an unknown flickering series of burdens, dawning in my marrow moment a living freedom. lifted.
I recommend Grouper for fans of Low, Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters), and beautiful female vocals.
MP3: Grouper – Disengaged