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Album reviews Music

Grouper

Rating: NNN


Liz Harris, aka Oregon-based artist Grouper, once played an eight-hour show meant to help concertgoers sleep and relax. That’s a testament to the kind of music she makes: subtle, ambient, calming. On Ruins, her textural sound is even more stripped-back, built from only her light voice and upright piano.

Harris recorded Ruins back in 2011 in Portugal, where every day she hiked several miles through a small village and past dilapidated estates to the beach. She says Ruins is a tribute to that walk, but it sounds more like a snapshot of isolation. As her fingers delicately struggle across the keys, whispered vocals dragging alongside, you can hear rain starting to fall in the background, late-night insects buzzing and frogs croaking, the jarring beep of a microwave.

These noises become as important as the piano, transporting you to Harris’s private studio. The quietness is also the project’s greatest weakness. At times, it leaves the album feeling incomplete or intrusive, as if we’re peeking in mid-thought.

Top track: Lighthouse

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