Liz Harris
' first two
Grouper
albums,
Way Their Crept
and
Wide
, consisted mostly of layers of her pristine vocals blanketed in drones, reverb, and distortion until they blurred into a blissful, and sometimes eerie, haze. That haze lifts ever so slightly on
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
, letting more melody, more structured songs, and even a few phrases emerge from the ether. Fragile acoustic and electric guitars and the occasional keyboard also bring this album more down to earth than
's earlier work, but the music never feels stifled or limited -- if anything, the added structure lets these songs take flight and reach peaks of beauty that
only glimpsed.
Harris
' voice is especially spine-tingling on
"Stuck,"
where her gorgeous harmonies only need gentle strumming to support their ebb and flow.
's soft, intricate layers have their roots in late-'80s/early-'90s dream pop (and the work of the
Cocteau Twins
and early
His Name Is Alive
in particular --
Home Is in Your Head
could be this album's great-great-grandmother), but
's take is looser and more organic; there's a reason many of the song titles feature nature imagery (
"Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping,"
"Traveling Through a Sea"
).
Dragging a Dead Deer
also shows more musical range than
' previous work:
"Disengaged,"
which introduces the album with blasts of static that suggest wind and waves, and the wistful
"Invisible"
fall closest to
's drifting approach, while
"Fishing Bird (Empty Jutted in the Evening Breeze)"
"A Cover Over"
boast distinct verses and choruses as well as the rest of the album's otherworldly atmosphere. This is also
's most emotionally wide-ranging work, covering the electric lullaby
"When We Fall"
to the slightly ominous shimmer of the title track.
offers moments that are just as memorable as the entire album, and all of them are subtly, but stunningly, beautiful. ~ Heather Phares