Grouper - Cover The Windows and The Walls

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5...according to our Brian on Fri 19 Jun, 2009.

Floating fuzzily into my lugs is a "new" CD from Liz Harris AKA Grouper. Well, Root Strata had a vinyl edition pressed up before but that's long gone now so an affordable digital equivalent will surely be of appeal to her legions of fans. I adore the way she blends the muddied sonic textures of distorted vocal trails, shimmering guitar & low-end piano clunks into something quite meditative and spiritual. I wish these headphones weren't so shit so I could hear a little more fidelity but honestly, the seven tracks contained here are the beautiful, ghostly spawn of some of the finest ideas on 'Loveless', a record which created a completely new music. It's those eerie waves of drone that sputter & wail that get me, spectral sound indeed and when she "sings" it's like a ghost is serenading you from another dimension. 'Cover The Windows And The Walls' is bloody lovely indeed.

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    *   1. Cover The Windows And The Walls (5:47)
    * 2. Opened Space (5:22)
    * 3. Down To The Ocean (6:07)
    * 4. Heart Current (4:41)
    * 5. It Feels Alright (6:02)
    * 6. You Never Came (5:29)
    * 7. Follow In Our Dreams (2:58)

First ever CD version of the LP we originally did in 2007. This one has everything you've come to expect from Portland, OR. based Liz Harris. Cyclical vocal vapors and guitar / piano shapes levitate on the surface of hissy atmospherics dense with a feedback that conjures up all sorts of latent images from the subtle body / mind. Liz's songs always seem to be perched delicately between layers of blissful fuzz and her stark, gorgeous song craft. It's a mix that more often than not leads to dazzling results. Edition of 1000 CD's in a heavy black & white offset printed cover. "Lost in a Dreamworld, West Coast Natural"

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