- Grouper is the solo recording project of Liz Harris from which over ten albums have drifted across a range of genres, though always remaining within the realms of both dream pop and more particularly ambient music. Though she has always had an intensely intimate sound, in 2014 she put our her most unembellished project to date, Ruins. It was simply her, a piano, and field recordings. She did away with the psychedelic fuzziness of her 2007 record Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and the minimalist, layered instrumentation and intricate engineering of AIA Alien Observer. Each track was essentially recorded in one take, and the background noises of rain, crickets chirping, or even a microwave beeping served to break down any walls which separated you from the artist.
On her eleventh studio effort, Grid of Points, Grouper continues in this direction. The record groups Harris’ expressive, gentle vocals with sporadic and skeletal piano keys and lo-fi recording to assemble a sound of utter isolation and despondence, which has become characteristic of her work. She explains: “The intimacy and abbreviation of this music allude to an essence that the songs’ lyrics speak more directly of. The space left after matter has departed, a stage after the characters have gone, the hollow of some central column, missing.”
It’s a collection of seven piano ballads, each of which contain delicate vocal melodies drifting both over and under the compositions. One of the major achievements of Grouper’s music is that she consistently manages to be stunningly evocative and melancholic, even though her warbled vocals and lo-fi production often make it difficult to decipher her lyrics. You can tell that the music is very much in-the-moment, which makes sense, following in the footsteps of Ruins and giving permanence to seemingly temporary feelings and emotions.
The album sits at a mere twenty-one minutes as Liz’s song-writing process, which took place over a week and a half, was disrupted by a fever. In some ways this is unfortunate, but if brevity is the soul of wit, it's certainly the case that this record short and sweet. Additionally, I’m glad Liz left things as they are: any further additions would have disrupted the train-of-thought nature of the album. In fact, it perfectly represents one of the real charms of Grouper’s music: it will never try to be anything it’s not. Ultimately, Grid of Points is a continuation of her raw and ethereal musical catalogue, which means it will be best heard in wistful solitude; a quiet moment to appreciate the power of her simple honesty.
- Jack Jones.