Grouper: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (2008)

New Wax


Grouper is Portland songwriter Liz Harris, and information on her is somewhat scarce so the music will have to do the talking. Listening to her new album Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill feels like a Vicodin-induced haze. Like that time I flipped my car on the interstate and wrecked my arm and they gave me enough pills to numb a killer whale. Grouper's new album is chalk-full of beautiful bedroom melodies cloaked with enough murk to create a sustained sense of melancholy. With a grainy photograph of a creepy little girl in a black hat in the woods serving as the cover art and the disturbing album title, the stage is set for a dark experience. In actuality, the album contains a wealth of beauty. Take the absolutely gorgeous "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping," which is probably the most lyrically comprehensible track on an album so texturally dense that Harris' vocals sometimes feel buried. In a melody sure to be stuck in your head for days, Harris sings: "Love is enormous/ It's lifting me up/ I'd rather be sleeping." This is late night/empty street music at its best, and Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill is astoundingly rich in atmosphere even though its basically built on only a girl's voice and her guitar. A haunting and worthwhile album I'd recommend to any fan of slowcore. -- Capt. Obvious

Listen:
MP3: Grouper - Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
MP3: Grouper - Invisible

Tags: Grouper, Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, Captain Obvious