Since 2005, the Portland musician Liz Harris has been making entrancing, quietly experimental music under the name Grouper. She's a mood-conjurer and a cult hero, and she sounds like nobody else. On the rare occasions that she plays live, it's a big deal. (She just did a short North American tour last month.) Harris has a few other musical projects, as well. Last week, her dream-pop trio Helen returned, after 11 years of inactivity, with the lovely new album Linda's Head. Today, Harris announces her first record under her government name.
Next month, Liz Harris will release the descriptively titled LP Music For Two Films About Water. Harris has a long history of working with experimental filmmakers, and film projection is part of her live show. Her new record consists of two long instrumental tracks that she made to score two new films that, as the title suggests, work as meditations on water. Tanja Engelberts' We Exhale is about the way humanity has changed the Rhône River through damming, channeling, and pollution. Takashi Makino's Constellation is more of a rumination on the dreamlike properties of water. Harris built her scores for both films using layers of mellotron, tape loops, Wurlitzer, and field recordings.
Today, we get to hear half of the album. Harris has shared the 22-minute track "Untitled (From Constellation)," as well as an Instagram excerpt of the film itself. The music is a calm but haunted instrumental that sounds at least partly improvised, and the use of piano reminds me of Erik Satie. Check it out below.
Music For Two Films About Water is out 11/27 on Kranky.
