GROUPER Vinilo y CD

Review: Liz Harris' image as a gothic, studio-dwelling, ambient mastermind is cemented by her 12th album, 'Shade'. Compiling a loose and formerly unrelated collection of songs made over the last 12 years - from the short, ruined polaroid-style opener 'Followed The Ocean', to the naked strum-singing of 'Unclean Mind' and the droning submergence of 'Basement Mix', this one is arguably one of her most lo-fi projects. It easily captures Grouper's emergence on the international folk-ambient scene through the analog fog of rare CD-Rs and handmade cassettes, making her career trajectory a ghost story if we've ever heard one. Gear up for a print edition, with original sky photographs by Harris' friend David Horvitz, as well as a signed archival letter-press print of Moon Study, her exclusive new book.

Review: Back in 2011, Liz Harris - better known under her artistic alias Grouper - released a pair of albums under the "AIA" banner. The first, "Dream Loss", has already been reissued; here, they offer up the second, "Alien Observer". It partly explores similar sonic territory, where distant-sounding recordings of Harris' voice, synths and evocative guitars are smothered in reverb, field recordings and noise, but also includes a few sharper, more defined moments. Amongst these, we'd suggest checking the sublime title track, a beautifully becalmed and spaced-out fusion of Harris' vocals and delay-laden guitar arpeggio scales, and closer "Come Softly", an even more beautiful and minimalist piece that's nothing less than stunning.