First time I encountered the records of Grouper I was more than a little worried about what would happen to the girl who appeared to be trapped down the well. She sounded distressed, and quite a long way down. Fortunately, it sounds like Sting stopped scratching his tantric bollocks for long enough to answer the call, greased himself up, and accompanying his endeavours with a verse or two of “If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free”, he did just that.
And we should, as always, give our thanks to the contradiction-immune Jag-endorsing earth-saver, as now we have the wonderfully-titled Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill to enjoy. “Disengaged” opens with the sound of rainstorm ripping at trees, or maybe waves raging at dunes, before a voice enters alongside heavily-decayed keyboard, while a lush drone swells around them. When this slips into the strum, swirl and spectral vocals of “Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping”, the result is heartbreaking. With my hands clamped to my ears, I can just about discern words amongst the darkness…I fall in, am carried away by deep currents. I may never get out. Where is Sting when you need him? I spend the rest of the album dazed and submerged. Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, for example via the ancient-sounding harmonies of “Invisible”, transcends the shoegaze references; it feels like a classic folk album is here somewhere in the depths, being corroded by salt water and broken up by the tendrils of seaweed. If only I could get down to the bottom; the more I swim it just gets darker and murkier.
The fact that Liz Harris’s voice is that bit more prominent in the mix perhaps betrays a growing confidence, and no wonder – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill is to my hyperbole-prone ears possibly my favourite record of the year so far. It is available now from a seemingly-rejuvenated Type.
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June 24, 2008 at 2:46 pm
seanh
Easily a favorite of mine for the year as well. This record is easily her most accessible work thus far, a slight departure from the lofi drone-inspired vocal whispiness of her earlier records. The record still sounds characteristically chilled, like folk songs recorded at the bottom of a well, comforting for those of us that enjoyed the earlier, grittier work.
Geographical realities make this an unlikely fantasy, but someday I’d love to hear Grouper record alongside Pumice or Ignatz — I’d also like to see those latter two artists try peeling off a layer of distortion themselves, working on some softer tones Liz romps in here.
great review as always, my man
June 24, 2008 at 3:39 pm
mapsadaisical
Thanks Seanh, and thanks for giving me some more stuff to check out – Pumice I’ve come across in passing over at Soft Abuse, and reading about Ignatz over at Submersible Dirigible I can’t believe that I haven’t heard anything by them. Must do these two in more depth…
June 25, 2008 at 7:28 pm
nickinko
It’s right up near the top of my list too. In fact, I’m getting the feeling that there’s quite a little groundswell of acclaim for this record. The track you link to there, Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping really is gorgeous – I couldn’t stop playing it when I first heard the album.