Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat (Album Review)

 

Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

(2013)

My copy: 2013 press by Kranky.

Liz Harris’s 2013 record attempted to recapture what made Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill unique; it sees a return to mostly guitar based songs in open tunings, albeit with some departures that add variety. 

“6” is reminiscent of early, ethereal and untethered Grouper songs but it is cut short to lead into the melancholy of “Vital.” The production on this record is quite strange: there is some kind of flange filter applied to the background noise on “Vital” while other tracks see background noise entirely removed. The rising, reverb soaked vocal melodies and lethargic guitar strumming on tracks like “Cloud Places,” “The Man Who Died In His Boat” and “Towers” would fit right in on Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill.  

Bass tones prod around in darkness on “Being Her Shadow” while guitar and effects glisten softly in the background, like some unreachable goal. “Cover The Long Way” is one of the cleaner songs, with swaying delayed vocals that intersect at certain intervals. A dissonant cloud of voices and anxious, buzzing guitar fills the room on “Differences (Voices)” before the eerie seance of “Vanishing Point” which distorts a piano into oblivion. 

“STS” is probably the most interesting song from an ambient perspective: low percussive tones build tension before the vocals quietly appear like the will of a lingering spirit. “Living Room” is the most singer-songwriter track on the record, with more defined guitar melodies and straight, unobscured singing. 

The Man Who Died In His Boat is at its best when blending the core aspects of ambient music with Harris’s ghostly vocal melodies. The best songs pass like planes through a cloudy night sky, lulling listeners into a trance. The worst songs are the ones that feel too much like b-sides from Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill.