Liz Harris, better known as Grouper, has unveiled a new project called Nivhek and surprise-released an album under the moniker. Titled After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house, it's a double record of “opaque assemblages of Mellotron, guitar, field recordings, tapes, and broken FX pedals,” according to a press release. The experimental ambient compositions were created during and after residencies in Azores, Portugal and Murmansk, Russia as well as at her home in Astoria, Oregon.
Harris claims to have been inspired by her 2014 score for filmmaker Paul Clipson’s Hypnosis Display and calls the album “a requiem, a ritual, to unlock and release feelings … a toxic concentrated reduction of something much darker bubbling beneath … wraithlike and ethereal, their existence in the mist questionable.” Last year, Harris released her eleventh Grouper album Grid of Points, which made KEXP’s 2018 top local albums list.
Listen to After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house and purchase the 2xLP on Bandcamp below.
Music is more often than not the soundtrack to – and relief from – some of the hardest moments in our lives. Martin Douglas describes how listening to Grouper got him through a very tough decade.
Throwaway Style is a weekly column dedicated to examining all aspects of the Northwest music scene. Whether it’s a new artist making waves, headlines affecting local talent, or reflecting on some of the music that’s been a foundation in our region; this space celebrates everything happening in the …
