Grouper – Way Their Crept (Vinyl)

Although there was an earlier self-titled record, Way Their Crept is often regarded as Liz Harris aka Grouper's true debut. It presents her at her most uncompromising, with many tracks built solely from her voice fed through effects units. This often creates a jarring effect, particularly when she hits off-kilter notes. At times, you wonder what makes this music feel so mysterious and evocative. Isn’t it just someone experimenting with voice, delay, and reverb? On the lesser tracks, yes — and if the album sometimes sounds like an artist testing the contours of a self-invented aesthetic, it also contains the seeds of what would come later.

Harris crafts dislocated, ghostly pieces, frayed at the edges and unnerving in their simplicity. The strongest tracks introduce basic electronics to the otherwise a cappella palette, grounding her looping voice with simple tonal patterns. ‘Black Out’, in particular, uses a repeating four-note motif over which her voice swoops, overlaps, and folds in on itself, landing somewhere between the emotional feel — if not the sonics — of This Mortal Coil’s ‘Song to the Siren’ and the distant echo of monastery singing blown in over hills on a breeze.
    
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue

Tracklist:
A1        Way Their Crept
A2        Hold A Desert, Feel Its Hand
A3        Second Skin / Zombie Wind
A4        Sang Their Way
A5        Black Out
A6        Adorned
B1        Close Cloak
B2        Second Wind / Zombie Skin
B3        Where It Goes
B4        Untitled