There are plenty of ambient drone artists out there these days, transposing loneliness and disillusion into LPs of molasses reverb and distorted crooning. No one does this nearly as well, however, as Liz Harris, the woman behind Portland’s Grouper. In 2008, Grouper made big waves with Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, dotting best-of lists across the internet and gaining the attention of everyone from Animal Collective to the good people at Tiny Mix Tapes. These waves have not been forgotten in the two years since Dragging, but they have perhaps begun to ebb with the rise of chillwave and ambient-electronic trends in pop music. Well no more! Grouper is returning to the scene with a new two-part LP, A I A (hopefully containing no influences from /\/\ /\ Y /\), out in April c/o Liz Harris herself.
A I A actually consists of two full-length 12-inches: Dream Loss and Alien Observer, and from the sound of it, the package will be just as joyful as Dragging a Dead Deer. Pitchfork’s got an official artist statement from Harris, but we’ll keep you updated on cool stuff, like the LP/MP3 release date and where Liz goes for coffee (maybe).
• Grouper: http://sites.google.com/site/yellowelectric/Grouper