Grouper - 2007 - Wide

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Most of my thoughts concerning Grouper in the review directly preceding this one pretty much relate to this album as well. Like Way Their Crept, Wide is an endless plunge into a hazy vortex of sound. I guess that this one rises ever so slightly above the aether. There is a little more of Ms. Liz Harris beating guitar strings (I think) through infinity, but this is still pretty unlikely to show up on your local top 40 station anytime soon. Once again, it's almost impossible to break this down into individual songs. If you put on Grouper, you best be in it for the entire 38 minute experience. As the rating above indicates, I'm not quite as infatuated with this one, but it goes nicely as a double feature with Way Their Crept. Our intrepid sound voyager does have another LP out which I haven't heard, but I'm hoping that a few stylistic changes appear. This is awesome music, but it could lead to quite a rut and I'd hate to think that Grouper is a one-trick pony. Well, we'll make it two tricks as I'm more than happy to pass on my recommendation for Wide.

Grouper - 2005 - Way Their Crept

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

I have to admit that I've been listening to this one pretty obsessively over the past two months or so. Grouper is not really a band, but one Liz Harris hailing from Portland, Oregon. On the surface, Harris' approach is a terrible idea. The majority of the sounds of this album is simply her voice run through a phalanx of echoplexes, delays, and other assorted reverb units. The songs are almost impossible to distinguish from each other, and the whole damn thing runs together. Yet there is a steady hand over the proceedings and the end result is just short of genius. I don't think I've run across a recording quite this hypnotic this side of Paul Horn's Inside.

While I've given Way Their Crept quite a few listens, I still feel unqualified to make much comment on the songs. The first track almost has discernible lyrics, and then everything plunges down a deep well for the rest of the album. The variety comes only in the density of the sound that you are experiencing at a single moment. I have trouble coming up with positives to express in words, yet I really dig this. Once again, I feel that Paul Horn is the best comparison, but while his music holds a very tenuous grip with jazz, Grouper's music hold an equally tenuous grip with shoegazing sounds.

I rarely find myself so infatuated with music, yet also find myself without the means to express the reasons why. Maybe this album is like the sirens' song. You best lash yourself to a masthead before hitting play on this one.