SONG OF THE DAY [#342]

'heavy water/i'd rather be sleeping' | grouper

i happened to stumble across grouper today purely by accident. but boy am i glad i did. i'd never heard of the one-woman, portland, oregon based band before, so i had to do a little research.

and, well, i didn't find much other than what i just mentioned. but you know, that's ok, because music this beautiful probably deserves more than a modicum of ambiguity. to be honest, i don't think i've heard anything quite like grouper before. and i really like that i haven't.

and i really like that liz harris avoids all the normal cliches and trappings of the girl-with-a-guitar genre of music. in face, she just may have created a new genre: acoustic shoegazing. imagine the cocteau twins stripped of the studio effects, slowdive if rachel goswell did all the singing over neil halstead's mojave 3 style guitar playing. yeah, ok, enough of the comparisons. just take it for what it is: a swift, melancholic kick to the soul. i adore this album. i listened to it for about four straight hours last night.

'i'm dragging a dead deer up the hill' dropped july 10. it's a tough one to find, but your diligence in searching it out will be justly rewarded.

→ grouper: heavy water/i'd rather be sleeping
→ grouper: we've all gone to sleep