Grouper

About

Grouper is the solo project of Liz Harris, a musician, artist and producer from Northern California whose work spans ambient, drone, dream pop, freak folk and experimental electronic territory. The name itself carries personal weight: Harris grew up in a commune called "The Group", and the word "grouper" was what the kids called each other as a small act of defiance against a controlled environment. Her 2008 album Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill is widely considered her breakthrough, with Pitchfork calling it "an arresting album of pastoral psychedelic pop" and scoring it 8.2. Since then she has built a substantial catalogue that includes the two part A I A, the quietly devastating piano and field recording album Ruins, and Shade, released in 2021 featuring songs recorded across fifteen years. Along the way she has collaborated with artists including Xiu Xiu, The Bug, Tiny Vipers and Jefre Cantu Ledesma, and even curated a full program at the Dutch Le Guess Who? festival in 2017.