Shade

First album by Liz Harris, the surprise icon of introverted ambient-folk, under this name since 2018. (She's also done recent work using the name Nivhek.) This album compiles recordings spanning 2008 to 2021, and it does comes across as a miscellany, surveying some of her artistic range, bouncing between noisy drone pieces and simple songs with acoustic guitar. There's a casual collage effect, like the films of her late collaborator Paul Clipson. Favorites: 2, 6, 7, 9. No FCCs detected.

1. (2:55)—Staticky, blown out, like hearing post-rock over a broken transmitter.
2. *(3:51)—Mid-tempo guitar strumming, like a demo for a '90s alt-rock song.
3. (2:54)—Very slow fingerpicked acoustic guitar.
4. (3:52)—Mid-tempo fingerpicking, a lot like her songs on Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill.
5. (4:35)—Noisy, faded lo-fi drone-rock, again like picking up a degraded transmission.
6. *(2:36)—Acoustic guitar and voice. Recording of Harris attempting the first few lines of a song over and over, like a haiku mantra.
7. *(2:50)—Slow, soft fingerpicked guitar. Close vocals, gentle hiss. Reminds me of her collaborator Tiny Vipers.
8. (5:18)—Washed out fingerpicking and vocal harmonies.
9. *(6:16)—Mid-tempo. Higher fidelity, the most formally finished-sounding piece of the bunch. Great place to start for anyone new to Grouper. Breathtaking.