Grouper / Ruins
Album: Ruins   Collection:General
Artist:Grouper   Added:Nov 2014
Label:Kranky  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2015-01-18 Pull Date: 2015-03-22 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Mar 22 Mar 15 Mar 8 Feb 22 Feb 15 Feb 8 Feb 1 Jan 25
Airplays: 1 2 2 3 2 3 3 6

Recent Airplay
1. Jan 17, 2024: GORP
Made Of Metal
4. Jun 07, 2016: does radio suck?
Holofernes, Labyrinth
2. Jan 11, 2024: GORP
Lighthouse
5. Apr 13, 2016: does radio suck?
Clearing, Lighthouse
3. Feb 27, 2021: Rebroadcast: Music Casserole
Made Of Air
6. Mar 21, 2015: Music Casserole
Made Of Air

Album Review
DJ Away
Reviewed 2015-01-10
Lo-fi, intimate, extremely hushed meditations on isolation and loss. After more than a decade of captivatingly mysterious and warped ambient-drone-folk, Liz Harris (who’s originally from Sonoma County!!!) is finally getting extensive attention with her tenth and most minimal album. Here she mostly ditches her trademark gauzy guitars for a piano, and she leaves her vocals relatively untreated. Recorded largely on the Portuguese coast, this feels like a stark emotional portrait of a very specific (and rainy) place and time, but it could be a source of comfort anywhere or in any season. All tracks are excellent. No FCCs confirmed. (There might be one on 2, but I can’t tell and kind of doubt it.)

1. (1:39)—Instrumental. Field recordings. Slow, deep drumbeat.
2. (4:42)—FCC? Subdued, pensive, minimal.
3. (2:59)—Dark, slow piano. Dramatic, forlorn, high-pitched vocals.
4. (3:48)—Instrumental. Slow, circular piano. Machine beep at the end.
5. (5:44)—Multi-tracked vocals. Long coda, really, really beautiful. Frog sounds.
6. (1:33)—Instrumental. Brighter, faster piano. Rain sounds.
7. (7:57)— Soothing, major-key. Most extensive use of multi-tracked vocals. Sounds of rain and thunder.
8. (11:24)—Instrumental. Watery, submerged piano-like sounds fade into a series of drones. Calm and drifting, then eerie, then more like piano again, then eerie again, and finally calm again.

Track Listing
1. Made Of Metal   5. Lighthouse
2. Clearing   6. Holofernes
3. Call Across Rooms   7. Holding
4. Labyrinth   8. Made Of Air