Grouper

ambient

Grouper is the solo project of American musician, artist and producer Liz Harris (born July 15, 1980). She has released material on her own label and other independent labels since 2005. Grouper released the critically acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill in 2008, followed by six more records, including a two-part album, A I A, and the piano-led album Ruins. Her twelfth album, Shade, was released in 2021. Harris was born July 15, 1980, in Northern California and grew up around the San Francisco Bay area.[3] She grew up in a Fourth Way commune there which was inspired by the philosophy of George Gurdjieff. The community was known as The Group, which would later serve as some inspiration for the moniker Grouper. According to Harris, the kids called each other and the parents 'groupers' sort of as a defiance. She says: It was us making our own identities inside a pretty controlled environment, and sort of lashing back maybe... When I had to think of a name I felt annoyed at nothing sounding right. I wanted something that referenced me without referencing 'Me.' According to her, she felt like the music was at its barest just a grouping of sounds, and I was just the grouper.[4] After finishing college, Harris briefly moved to Los Angeles, where she worked with Mayo Thompson at Patrick Painter.[5] Harris is now based in Oregon. Harris’ first album was 2005’s Grouper, a self-released full-length CD-R, followed later that year by Way Their Crept on Free Porcupine (re-releas...