GROUPER - AIA: Alien Observer/AIA: Dream Loss (Yellowelectric)

Grouper, a/k/a Liz Harris, has generated a devoted following since the release of 2008’s spectacular “Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill.” That album found traces of melody and variation emerging from Harris’ trademark spectral haze in a manner that we hadn’t yet heard from her. It rightly found its place on numerous year-end lists (coming in at number 2 on this writer’s tally) and put Grouper at the top of the experimental underground. Since then Harris has released a series of singles and split lps, each of which sold out in the blink of an eye. Among the devoted, the songs that trickled out over the past couple of years have been like bread crumbs leading desperate listeners through the forest toward Grouper’s next full-length. Now, after much anticipation, Harris has rewarded fans with two recordings, although in truth they are each a part of a whole.

In theory “AIA: Alien Observer” and “AIA: Dream Loss” could be taken separately, but clearly they are intended to be experienced together, and not just because they share a common title. “Alien Observers” sets the stage with a subtle minimalist approach, while “Dream Loss” builds on the hypnotic quiet of “Alien Observer” and gradually grows denser and darker in sound. Taken as a whole “AIA” is an immersive listening experience unlike any other in recent memory. Time expands to the point of breaking as these records play out, lulling listeners into a zen-like state that is part dream and part awakened-awareness.

Utilizing little more than piano, guitar, vocals and loops, Harris doesn’t so much as change her formula here as she delves deeper into the layers and textures of her distinctive sound to craft recordings that split the difference between the melodicism of “Dragging A Dead Deer” and experimental drone music. “Alien Observer” opens with “Moon Is Sharp,” a track that builds from a few disembodied voices into an expansive piece that features a buried, but beautiful, melodic structure and an increasingly overpowering drone that begins to disintegrate toward the end, calling to mind William Basinski. The song is built on noise and melody, containing within it all of the elements that will be reduced, picked apart and exploded throughout “AIA.” Title track “Alien Observer” follows and features Harris stripped bare. The song features little more than a minimalistic repeating note pattern over which Harris’ haunting voice conjures the track’s melody. It’s an incredibly stunning recording that proves that sometimes less is more. “Vapor Trails” is more languid, but no less engaging. Subtle washes of ghostly guitar float across the track, inviting the listener to sink deeper into “AIA.” Even at nine minutes long the track never bores, instead it hypnotizes and seduces, so that by the time you reach the equally epic “She Loves Me That Way,” you find yourself submerged entirely into Grouper’s sound-world. The album ends with the gorgeous “Come Softly,” a fragile number that could be a lullaby or the soundtrack to the most intimate of encounters.

“Dream Loss” opens with the darker and more ponderous “Dragging The Streets.” It’s a disquieting number that builds upon the languid haze of “Alien Observer” but reduces that record's dispersed color patterns into grayscale. “I Saw A Ray” is even bleaker, featuring a buzzing distorted drone that maintains a menacing intensity throughout. Harris’ voice sounds even more distant and submerged underneath the slow grind of “Ray,” making for a hallucinatory experience. “Soul Eraser” is subtler, but no less disturbed. There is almost a formlessness to the song as the vocals and instrumentation barely breach the surface of the track’s lulling hum. “Atone” provides some respite from the gloom. Built almost entirely on vocals, the track's gentle ascending note progression offers a slight ray of hope among the fog of “Dream Loss.” Yet “Wind Return” dashes what little hope there is to be found. It’s a muddy, tumultuous impressionistic track that is more about feeling than any melody or structure. As the record progresses it becomes increasingly disembodied, much more so than anything on “Alien Observer." Yet, played back to back these records compliment each other; “Alien Observer” mesmerizes and puts the listener into the exact state necessary to appreciate the more formless ambient haze of “Dream Loss," which is certainly the more difficult of the two recordings.

In the end, "AIA" is an epic sonic journey that rewards as much as it challenges. Over the course of the two recordings, the music slowly but surely disintegrates into almost pure ambience, running the course from Harris' most engaged to disengaged songs to date. I am not claiming that this is an easy listen, but it is a powerful one if you let yourself become submerged in the dense nocturnal fog that surrounds these records. In some ways this is a step away from the near accessibility of "Dragging A Dead Deer," and in other ways it is a culmination of Harris' work to date. Either way, fans will not be disappointed, and newcomers will discover plenty of reasons to give themselves over to the haunted beauty that is Grouper.

"Alien Observer"

Grouper - Alien Observer from Hamish Parkinson on Vimeo.

"I Saw A Ray"


"Come Softly"