Grouper is the solo project of musician, artist and producer Liz Harris (born July 15, 1980). She has released 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 Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

''. Her twelfth album, ''

Shade Shade, Shades or Shading may refer to: * Shade (color), a mixture of a color with black (often generalized as any variety of a color) * Shade (shadow), the blocking of sunlight * Shades or sunglasses * Shading, a process used in art and graphic ...

'', was released in 2021. Grouper has collaborated with a number of other artists, including

Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu ( ) is an American experimental rock band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart in San Jose, California. Currently, the line-up consists of multi-instrumentalists Stewart (the only constant member since formation), Angel ...

Tiny Vipers Tiny Vipers (born 1983) is the musical project of Jessica Louise "Jesy" Fortino, a Seattle-based American musician known for her minimalist, atmospheric music. Her style, combining elements of folk, ambient, and experimental music, is characteri ...

(as the duo Mirrorring),

Roy Montgomery Roy Montgomery (born 1959) is a composer, guitarist and lecturer from Christchurch, New Zealand. Montgomery's mostly instrumental solo works have elements of post-rock, lo-fi, folk and avant-garde experimentation. His signature sound might be d ...

, The Bug,

Lawrence English Lawrence English (born 1976) is an Australian composer, artist, and curator from Brisbane. His work is broadly concerned with the politics of perception, specifically he is interested in the nature of listening, and sounds' capability to occupy ...

(as Slow Walkers), Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (as Raum) and Paul Clipson. The critic Brett Abrahamsen referred to her as a "genius of modern music" in his 2022 profile of Roy Montgomery.

Biography

Harris was born July 15, 1980, in Northern California and grew up around the

San Francisco Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. She grew up in a

Fourth Way The Fourth Way is spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff's approach to human spiritual growth, developed and systematised by him over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912), and taught to followers in subsequent years. Gurdjieff's students ...

commune there which was inspired by the philosophy of

George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 1 ...

. 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." After graduating from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Harris briefly moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where she worked with

Mayo Thompson Mayo Thompson (born February 26, 1944) is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the experimental rock band Red Krayola. Background Mayo Thompson’s formal education includes Garden of Arts Kindergarten until Holy ...

at Patrick Painter. Harris is now based in Oregon. Harris’ first album was 2005’s ''Grouper'', a self-released full-length

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...

, 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

entitled ''Creepshow''. Harris made available new material steadily through the years, and continued to collaborate with various artists such as

and Xela. In 2008 she released '' Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill,'' her breakthrough album.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

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."

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

gave it 8.2 stars, calling the work "an arresting album of pastoral psychedelic pop". 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

, while the latter part was noted for being more accessible of the two discs. 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. She also collaborated with Jesy Fortino of

to release an album ''

Foreign Body A foreign body (FB) is any object originating outside the body of an organism. In machinery, it can mean any unwanted intruding object. Most references to foreign bodies involve propulsion through natural orifices into hollow organs. Foreign b ...

'' 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. 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 The sleep cycle is an oscillation between the slow-wave and REM (paradoxical) phases of sleep. It is sometimes called the ultradian sleep cycle, sleep–dream cycle, or REM-NREM cycle, to distinguish it from the circadian alternation between ...

. In 2013, Harris released an album, '' The Man Who Died in His Boat''. Grouper's studio album titled ''

'' was released on October 31, 2014. The album is relatively stripped-down; piano, voice and field recordings. 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. That same year she appeared on The Bug's

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

providing vocals for the track "Void". In 2015, Grouper collaborated with independent filmmaker Paul Clipson on the film ''Hypnosis Display'', commissioned by Leeds Opera North. In 2016, Grouper released a 7" entitled '' 'Paradise Valley'. In 2017, Grouper was one of the curators for the 11th edition of the Dutch

Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. This festival was founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen. It ...

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 Marisa Anderson is an American guitarist and composer based in Portland, Oregon. She is primarily known for mixing American primitive guitar with various genres from throughout the United States and the rest of the world, and for her largely i ...

William Basinski William James Basinski (born June 25, 1958) is an American avant-garde composer based in Los Angeles, California. He is also a clarinetist, saxophonist, sound artist, and video artist. Basinski is best known for his four-volume album '' The Dis ...

, Marcia Bassett & Samara Lubelski duo, Brötzmann/Leigh, Ekin Fil,

Keiji Haino Keiji Haino ( ''Haino Keiji''; born May 3, 1952) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter whose work has included rock, free improvisation, noise music, percussion, psychedelic music, minimalism and drone music. He has been active since th ...

Coby Sey Coby Sey is a British musician, songwriter, artist, vocalist and NTS Radio host, born and based in Lewisham, South East London. He has worked with musicians Tirzah, Mica Levi, DELS, Kwes, Laurel Halo, Klein, Lafawndah and London Contempora ...

Wolfgang Voigt Wolfgang Voigt (born 1961) is a German electronic music DJ and producer from Cologne, known for his output under various aliases, such as Gas. He signed on numerous record labels, including Warp, Harvest, Raster-Noton, Force Inc, Astral Ind ...

and

Richard Youngs Richard Youngs (born 29 May 1966) is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with ''Advent'', first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choos ...

. On March 8, 2018, Grouper announced a new album '' Grid of Points'' and released the first single "Parking Lot" from the album. The album was released on April 27 via Kranky. On July 27, 2021, Harris announced a new Grouper album, ''

'', and released its first single "Unclean Mind". The album was released on October 22 via Kranky. It features songs that were recorded over the past fifteen years.

Musical style

Grouper's work is wide-ranging, incorporating sparse

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

, tape, field recordings, acoustic guitar, piano, and vocal loops. Writing for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', Andy Downing noted a primitive and collage approach to how Harris constructs soundscapes. During her childhood as a member of a Fourth Way commune, Harris' primary sources for discovering music were limited. Through her parents she discovered Eastern European folk and American avant-pop. Through her father, who himself was a composer, she would later discover contemporary classical and

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

. In 2008, when she released '' Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill'', Pitchfork compared it to classic

ethereal Ethereal may refer to: * Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001 * Ethereal (musician), American rapper and record producer * Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music * W ...

releases from the British label

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

, drawing comparisons to

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock music, rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. In 19 ...

and early

His Name Is Alive His Name Is Alive is an American experimental rock band/project from Livonia, Michigan. After several self-released cassettes, they debuted on 4AD Records in 1990, starting a long run at the label. Throughout the band's long history, leader Wa ...

The Portland Mercury ''Portland Mercury'' is an alternative bi-weekly newspaper and media company founded in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. It has a sibling publication in Seattle, Washington, called '' The Stranger''. History A prior version of ''The Mercury'' was ...

described some songs from the album, such as "Wind and Snow" and "Stuck", sonically reminiscent of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period composers Gesualdo and

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considere ...

Discography

Albums

*''Grouper'' (2005) *''Way Their Crept'' (2005) *''Wide'' (2006) *''Cover the Windows and the Walls'' (2007) *'' Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill'' (2008) *'' A I A: Dream Loss'' (2011) *'' A I A: Alien Observer'' (2011) *'' The Man Who Died in His Boat'' (2013) *''

'' (2014) *'' Grid of Points'' (2018) *''After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house'' as "Nivhek" (2019) *''

'' (2021)

EPs and singles

*''He Knows'' (2006) *''Tried'' (2007) *''Hold/Sick'' (2010) *''Water People'' (2011) *''Violet Replacement, Pt. I: Rolling Gate'' (2012) *''Violet Replacement, Pt. II: Sleep'' (2012) *''Paradise Valley'' (2016) *''Children'' (2017)

Collaborations

*''Creepshow'' as "

vs. Grouper" (2006) *''Eckords.'' with Jorge Behringer as "Flash Lights" (2006) *''Visitor'' with Ilyas Ahmed (2011) *''

'' with

as "Mirrorring" (2012) *''Slow Walkers'' with

as "Slow Walkers" (2013) *''The Event of Your Leaving'' with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma as "Raum" (2013) *"Felt This Way"/"Dying All the Time" with Jed Bindeman and Scott Simmons as Helen (2014) *''Void'' and ''Black Wasp'' with The Bug (2014) *'' The Original Faces'' (2015, Helen) *''Daughter'' with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma as "Raum" (2022)

Split releases

*''Inca Ore / Grouper'' with Inca Ore (2008) *''Split'' with Pumice (2009) *''Grouper/City Center'' with City Center (2009) *''Tsuki No Seika Volume One'' with Xela (2009) *''Roy Montgomery/Grouper'' - featuring Grouper's ''Vessel'' EP - with Roy Montgomery (2010)

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Grouper BandCamp website

Liz Harris' visual art website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grouper (Musician) 1980 births Living people Singers from Oregon Singers from California American women in electronic music Guitarists from Oregon 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Guitarists from California 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American women guitarists Kranky (record label) artists University of California, Berkeley alumni