Grouper 's music exists between the hues of memory, reflected in quiet swirls of guitar and Liz Harris' voice. Her most recent album, 2014's Ruins , stripped away much of the ambiance (to chilling effect) and played with environment as an instrument.
Released on the winter solstice, the Paradise Valley 7" is a less a return to Grouper's sound than a muted meditation. You can hear the reverb hum at the beginning of "Headache" as Harris' fingers hesitate on guitar strings, almost uncertain of the outcome. In its simplicity — just a moody chord progression strummed languidly — there's a nod to early Low , but the stark melancholy as Harris sighs, "My head hurts," is unmistakably Grouper.
The 7" comes with the poem below; this passage obliquely describes the sound within:
Love uneven. Sound eating at the land,water whispering, theabsent pattern of your feet.Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
