Ruins

" Ruins is Grouper's "unplugged" record, essentially, as much as that might sound odd for a musician who has always put acoustic guitar and piano and voice at the core of her work. Here, however, she foreswears the looping pedals and the innumerable layers of fuzz that are just as essential to her aesthetic. What we're left with is achingly beautiful and, given the intensely private nature of most of Grouper's work-on stage, she often plays sitting down, crouched over in order to manipulate her effects pedals, her face hidden in shadow-almost unnervingly direct".

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"At once soothing and devastating, Ruins suggests Harris' power and versatility are only growing".

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"The strongest musical touchpoints for Ruins, for me, the music I keep relating this to in my mind are the piano-based songs on Lisa Germano's last few albums and, for some reason, Sarah Winchester's The Northest Kingdom Demos. Neither were likely in Harris' mind when making Ruins, but it's in the nature of the album to bring out our own personal touchpoints, along with our thoughts and feelings and experiences. It's individual music that's overt about putting us in a thoughtful mindset".

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"Grouper er ikke blot en kategori af fisk, men også navnet på amerikanske Liz Harris' ambiente soloprojekt, siden 2005 et musikalsk rum af efterklange, loops og lag. Men denne gang har hun siddet i et portugisisk hus med en firsporsbåndoptager og et klaver. Alene med sine sange fra kærlighedens ruiner. Resultatet er hypnotisk og tager vejret fra én. Ikke med et hårdt slag, men samme langsomme bevægelser, som når dykkere svømmer rundt om et skibsvrag på koralrevet".

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