Grouper (musician)

Grouper
Background information
Birth name Elizabeth Anne Harris[1]
Born West Marin, California, U.S.
Origin Astoria, Oregon
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, producer
Years active 2005–present
Labels YELLOWELECTRIC, Kranky
Associated acts Mirrorring, Slow Walkers, Raum, Xiu Xiu, Ilyas Ahmed, Inca Ore, Roy Montgomery, Helen

Grouper is the solo project of American musician, artist and producer Liz Harris. She has been releasing material on her own label and other independent labels since 2005. Grouper released the critically acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill in 2008, followed by five more records, including a two-part album, A I A, and the piano-led album Ruins. Her eleventh album, Grid Of Points was released on April 27, 2018. On March 8, 2018, the song Parking Lot from the forthcoming album was released via her BandCamp.

She has collaborated with a number of other artists, including Xiu Xiu, Jesy Fortino (Mirrorring), Roy Montgomery, The Bug, Lawrence English (Slow Walkers), and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Raum).

History

Harris was born in Northern California and grew up around the San Francisco Bay area.[2] She grew up in a Fourth Way commune there which was inspired by the philosophy of George Gurdjieff. The community was known as "The Group", which would later serve as some inspiration for the moniker Grouper. According to Harris, the kids called each other and the parents 'groupers' sort of as a defiance. She says: "It was us making our own identities inside a pretty controlled environment, and sort of lashing back maybe... When I had to think of a name I felt annoyed at nothing sounding right. I wanted something that referenced me without referencing 'Me.'" According to her, she "felt like the music was at its barest just a grouping of sounds, and I was just the grouper."[3]"

After finishing college, Harris briefly moved to Los Angeles, where she worked with Mayo Thompson at Patrick Painter.[4] Harris is now based in Oregon. Harris’ first album was 2005’s Grouper, a self-released full-length CD-R, followed later that year by Way Their Crept on Free Porcupine (re-released in 2007 on Type Records). In 2006 she released a single (He Knows), one album, called Wide, and a collaboration with Xiu Xiu entitled Creepshow. Harris made available new material steadily through the years, and continued to collaborate with various artists such as Roy Montgomery and Xela.

In 2008 she released Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill. An AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares praised the album for showing more musical range than Harris' previous work and for "letting more melody, more structured songs, and even a few phrases emerge from the ether."[5] Pitchfork gave it 8.2 stars calling the work "an arresting album of pastoral psychedelic pop".[6]

In 2011, Grouper released an album consisting of two parts: A I A: Dream Loss and A I A: Alien Observer, which was critically acclaimed by Pitchfork, while the latter part was noted for being more accessible of the two discs.[7]

Early in 2012, Grouper performed Violet Replacement in the UK and Europe, a pair of longform tape collage pieces which originally took shape for commissioned performances in New York and Berkeley. Besides, she collaborated with Jesy Fortino of Tiny Vipers to release an album Foreign Body under their common moniker Mirrorring.

At Berlin's Club Transmediale festival in early February 2012 Harris performed Circular Veil in collaboration with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.[2] Somewhere between an installation and a performance, it found her extending her more concise music outward into eight hours of music, designed to mimic one full sleep cycle.

In 2013, Harris released an album, The Man Who Died in His Boat.

Grouper's studio album titled Ruins was released on October 31, 2014. The album is relatively stripped-down; piano, voice and field recordings.[8] The majority of the album was recorded in Aljezur, Portugal in 2011, while Harris was on a residency set up by Galeria Zé dos Bois.[9] That same year she appeared on The Bug's album providing vocals for the track "Void".[10]

In 2015, Grouper collaborated with an independent filmmaker Paul Clipson on the film Hypnosis Display, commissioned by Leeds Opera North.[11]

In 2016, Grouper released a 7" entitled 'Paradise Valley'.[12]

In 2017, Grouper was one of the curators for the 11th edition of the Dutch Le Guess Who? festival. Her curated program included films La Double Vie de Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Lighthouse by Paul Clipson and music performances from artists Marisa Anderson, William Basinski, Marcia Bassett & Samara Lubelski duo, Brötzmann/Leigh, Ekin Fil, Keiji Haino, Roy Montgomery, Coby Sey, Tiny Vipers, Wolfgang Voigt and Richard Youngs.[13]

In 2018, Grouper announced her new album Grid of Points[14], which was released on April 27 via Kranky.

Musical style

During her days as a part of a Fourth Way commune, Harris' primary sources for discovering music were limited. With a little help from her parents, whose musical tastes were eccentric and divergent, she discovered Eastern European folk and the American avant-pop band Talking Heads. Through her father, who himself was a composer, she would later discover contemporary classical and early music.[15] In 2008, when she released Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, Pitchfork compared it to classic ethereal releases from the British label 4AD, drawing comparisons to Cocteau Twins[6] and early His Name Is Alive.[16] The Portland Mercury described some songs from the album, such as "Wind and Snow" and "Stuck", sonically reminiscent of the Renaissance period composers Gesualdo and Monteverdi.[15]

Discography

Albums

EPs and singles

  • "He Knows", CD-R (2006), reissued on 7" Vinyl (2009)
  • "Tried", 7" Vinyl (2007)
  • "Hold/Sick", 7" Vinyl (2010)
  • "Water People", 7" Vinyl (2011)
  • "Paradise Valley", 7" Vinyl (2016)
  • "Children", DL (2017)

Collaborations

  • Creepshow, CD and LP. Collaboration with the band Xiu Xiu under the artist name "Xiu Xiu vs. Grouper" (2006)
  • Eckords. Collaboration with Jorge Behringer under the artist name "Flash Lights" (2006)
  • Visitor, , 10" vinyl. Collaboration with Ilyas Ahmed (2011)
  • Foreign Body, vinyl and CD. Collaboration with Tiny Vipers under the artist name "Mirrorring" (2012)
  • Slow Walkers, vinyl. Collaboration with Lawrence English under the artist name "Slow Walkers" (2013)
  • The Event of Your Leaving, vinyl. Collaboration with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma under the artist name "Raum" (2013)
  • Felt This Way/Dying All The Time, 7" Vinyl. Collaboration with Jed Bindeman and Scott Simmons under the artist name "Helen" (2013)
  • Void and Black Wasp (taken from Angels and Devils and Exit EP), vinyl. Collaboration with The Bug (2014)
  • The Original Faces, CD and LP. Collaboration with Jed Bindeman and Scott Simmons under the artist name "Helen" (2015)

Split releases

  • w/Inca Ore, Cassette (2007), reissued on CD and 12" Vinyl (2008)
  • w/City Center, 7" Tour Vinyl (2008)
  • w/Pumice, 7" Tour Vinyl (2009)
  • w/Roy Montgomery, 12" Vinyl (2009)
  • Tsuki No Seika: Volume One w/Xela, 7" Vinyl (2009) [17]

References

  1. ↑ Ratliff, Ben. "Grouper's Liz Harris Explains the Art of the Paradox and the Beauty of Mistakes". Pitchfork. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 Myers, Owen (2013). "Grouper". Dazed. Retrieved 2014-09-08.
  3. ↑ Clarke, Cary. "Our Town Could Be Your Life". The Portland Mercure. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "Listening & Playing Alone: The Strange World Of Grouper". The Quietus. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Phares, Heather. "AllMusic Review by Heather Phares". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  6. 1 2 McGonigal, Mike. "Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill". Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Richardson, Mark. "A I A: Alien Observer". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  8. ↑ True, Chris. "Biography by Chris True". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Gordon, Jeremy (2014-08-14). "Grouper Announces New Album Ruins". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2014-09-08.
  10. ↑ Kalev, Maya. "Grouper On Her New Album: "Ruins Helped Crack Me Open."". The Fader. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "Interview: Grouper and Paul Clipson discuss 'Hypnosis Display'". KQED Arts. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  12. ↑ Bowe, Miles. "Grouper releases surprise 7" Paradise Valley". Factmag. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  13. ↑ "Explore Grouper's curated program for Le Guess Who? 2017". Le Guess Who?. Retrieved 28 December 2017. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  14. ↑ "Grouper announces new album Grid Of Points". Factmag.com. March 8, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  15. 1 2 Clarke, Cary. "Our Town Could Be Your Life". The Portland Mercury. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Phares, Heather. "AllMusic Review by Heather Phares". AllMusic.
  17. ↑ "Tsuki No Seika: Volume One". Boomkat.com. Retrieved 2012-12-31.

Further reading

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