06.04.10 - 8:00pm

New Roaratoria: Grouper (SOLD OUT)

Grouper is a recording and performance project by Liz Harris,and over the last few years she has quickly nudged herself into the underground spotlight with her peculiarly disarming music. Her journey began with the haunting midnight ambience of ‘Way Their Crept’ released on ex-Deerhoof member Rob Fisk’s Free Porcupine Society label in 2005. The record was instantly praised by British site Volcanic Tongue who described it as a ‘wildcard late entry for album of the year’, and its woozy blend of William Basinski-esque drone and breathy vocals slowly garnered the attention of music fans around the world. What followed over the next few years was a handful of stunning releases, from ‘Wide’ (again on FPS) to the haunting collaborative recording with Xiu Xiu entitled ‘Creepshow’. With each release Liz grew in confidence and refined her unique style, coming to a head with the limited ‘Cover the Windows and the Walls’ LP on Root Strata which sold out in a matter of weeks. In 2008 she released the album which defined her sound; ‘Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill’ and through cult British imprint Type Records she finally reached the wider audience she deserved. The album achieved an unprecedented amount of critical acclaim, with respected US webzine Pitchfork mentioning it in their top albums of 2008, touting it as ‘druggy and sexy and arty and pretty, but never pretentious’.  In 2009 she toured the USA in support of Animal Collective (one of the world’s biggest alternative acts), released split 7”s with City Center and Pumice and continues to stun audiences worldwide with her truly unique songs.

On June 4th Grouper will perform pieces from her album Way Their Crept for the first time outside of Portland, as well as new keyboard material in a special set at Issue Project Room.  These pieces have not been possible to perform before because of the logistics of playing live with an instrument as heavy and fragile as the keyboard used.

A second special set of a new tape collage called “Ascend/Descend” will be performed through the IPR’s 16 channel surround-sound system on June 4th.

The New Roaratoria is made possible, in part, through generous support from the Greenwall Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts.