[CRITICAL] GROUPER - SHADE

Shade is the twelfth musical feature film by Pacific Northwest (Oregon) artist Liz Harris, also known as Grouper. It is a collection of songs recorded over the last fifteen years in different places like Astoria, Portland and Mont Tamalpais.

The album is produced by the US record label Kranky Records, which hosts more than 40 predominantly experimental music artists, often branching out of or inspired by ambient, rock, electronic or psychedelic music such as Loscil, Tim Hecker, Deerhunter or Low among others.

For those of us who have been following her for some time, we know that she is considered one of the most outstanding cult composers within the folk-ambient circuit and one of her most anticipated jewels is finally out, full of autobiographical experiences. Shade is the artist's first LP since Grid of Points in 2018. Nine tracks full of distorted ambient-noise that whisper in our ear with a clear and deep intimate way, preserving her powerful union of voice and guitar.

The greatest greatness of Liz Harris is the experimentation of reverberations and sonic walls. She achieves it with her guitar and melancholic voice, establishing herself as one of the less conventional artists on the experimental folk scene. The first song on the album is Followed the Ocean. It overflows with emotion and sensitivity with deep questions about the archetypes of good and evil, life and death, and black and white within ourselves and in society. Leaving us perplexed with his captivating voice buried from a distance crouched in the mist.

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If we do an organic reading of the disk all the songs work separately. They are compiled in the form of memories and transmitted experiences mapping a connection with the place: “an ode to the color blue / what lives in the shadow”. The songs are played with balance regarding their moods. Very common emotions in society such as loneliness, beauty and isolation, loss, defects and affections, hiding places and love. For me, his lyrics are always transformed by the emotional chaos that we experience throughout our journey through life. Something basic here is to translate and understand the lyrics that accompany his acoustic poetry.

From a musical point of view, the guitar plucks, especially in the songs Pale Interior and Ode to the Blue, are the most delicate architecture found throughout the record. But if I have to refer to a song it is Kelso (Blue Sky) where the strings, varied arrangements and again his voice penetrates like that tireless search for oneself.

Shade takes this knife-edge balance between intimacy and minimalism with its more folky, acoustic and haunting side. He invites you to pay full attention whose listening wins whole if it is listened to in a silent environment, so it is worth spending a good time on it.

The last thing on this record to highlight, just as mature as Dragging a Dead Deer UP a Hill (2008), are the unique surround echoes when it comes to generating overwhelming atmospheres. They are repeated here with the intensity that Grouper is used to. They come back to us like this.

Listen to the latest from Grouper here