Lets Compare- Grouper

        What makes good music? Is it something academic, something you can think about, quantify, and then point to and say yes, this is good music, and have everyone be in universal agreement? When you consider that such a universal agreement has hardly ever occurred, that model would seem unlikely. The natural alternative then would be a model from the emotional realm; that good music makes you feel. Good or bad, whether it is the nuanced subtleties of feelings of warmth or stark isolation, or the bluntness of rage or even disgust, it is often the ability to induce a reaction that can distinguish a decent songwriter from a great one. And when it comes down to it, that is what defines Grouper’s career up unto this point. Liz Harris, aka Grouper, falls soundly into the nuanced presentation of emotion, and as a Portland native fits nicely into the thriving music scene of that city. But her mastery of her art goes far deeper than that, some trendy musician in a trendy city, with a certain group of people praising her music, hers is worthy of a deeper appreciation.

               

     Boring, repetitive, all the same, these are some complaints that a person could come up with that may accurately describe Harris’ music. But when you get right down to it Harris is as much as an artist as either of the two others I am comparing her to here, and while her music can sometimes be challenging to listen to, it is as ever bit rewarding as it is challenging.  Grouper can at the same time be quiet and small, while maintaining a sense of triumph through little everyday victories. Harris writes music to dream to, music that occupies every single corner of the space that its being played in. With the minimalistic simplicity of an acoustic guitar, a Wurlitzer organ and her soft vocals, listening to Grouper is more like having someone whisper poetry into your ear rather than listening to a full band. While it usually is hard to come up with these comparisons, this one was admittedly easy, Harris’ artistic tendencies has made holding her up to the light of other artists both enjoyable and naturally flowing. So here we are, my comparisons to Grouper, a poet and a painter.

Passing by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Poem) –Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

     There are perhaps other poets I could have compared Harris to, I could have gotten away with comparing her to Wallace Stevens, or Walt Whitman (both of whom I personally prefer to Frost) but Frost represents a type of Americana that is better suited for comparison to Grouper’s as of now opus Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill. While I should point out that that album is the only one in her discography that has that sense of American folksiness, but that work is strong enough in its influence that the comparison is worth drawing. Both Frost and Harris depict the same sort of American dream, not the superficial get rich quick one, or the pull yourself up by your bootstraps dream, but of the America where you have promises to keep, where you can drag a dead deer up a hill for the rest of your life. Both artists depict a cold world, one of endless work and toil. At their worst they can be found alone in a cold wood, at their best, in that same cold wood with a warm fire, a subtle distinction that can make a world of difference, a line that both artists have made a career out of defining, crossing, and rebuilding again.

             

     When choosing artists to compare Grouper to, it was obvious that a poet needed to occupy one of these two spots, though that may seem strange when you consider how few audile lyrics there are in her music. But the scarcity of the lyrics only serves to represent the minimalistic artistry that is so often conveyed by poets like Frost.  What impresses me most perhaps about Grouper’s music is how perfectly she chooses to lift the haze of her own music to highlight certain lines, the exact lines that she wants you to hear, speaking with a clarity like a figure stepping out of a mist. In terms of semantic meaning, the song lyrics are as revealing as the track titles, revealing exactly as much as you can fit in a few word title. Consider Alien Observer from Harris’ split AIA project last year. That song title is probably enough to summarize all you need to know about that tracks themes, isolation, loneliness, being an outsider. These are themes that are offered up by the song title and lyrics but then are fleshed out by the music. Grouper does this by making you feel lonely, by isolating you from the outside world, by turning you into an outsider.

               

       Of course any good poet can do that too, and Robert Frost is certainly a good poet. In Stopping By Woods… Frost also draws on the power of relatability. Consider the poem’s depiction of the wood. Frost paints a very cold picture, despite never explicitly saying that the woods are cold. Frost does this by conjuring images of darkness, by pointing out that its snowing and by letting the imagination of the reader run wild. Besides, the narrator is tired and has far to go before they can rest, it has to be cold. When considering Grouper’s most recognizable song is Heavy Water/I’d Rather be Sleeping, the comparison becomes obvious.  Grouper uses her music the same way Robert Frost uses his words, to make the listener/reader feel. And while the way in which they go about doing this is different, the emotionality that their art conveys is in very much the same vain.

Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth

               

       It is worth pointing out that I was considering putting an impressionist here. The way they gloss over the details, muddle stark emotional scenes, and make art out of simplicity could directly be compared to what makes Grouper’s music so enjoyable. But being a resident of the Chards Ford area, it would be too good to pass up an opportunity to write about the areas only post revolutionary war cultural contribution to the American psyche. That would be the Wyeth family I’m referring to, and more specifically the youngest of the painting dynasty Andrew Wyeth. Last in age, but most certainly not in talent, Wyeth focused most of his work on the people around him, creating works that brought beauty to a region of the country that is otherwise (and trust me on this one) boring as dirty. But what really made me choose Wyeth’s work over say a Claude or a Pierre is how different his work is from those (French) men, how plainly real his subjects are and the warm air he breaths into each and every one of his figures. While that plain realness would seem contradictory to what I previously penned as Harris’ cryptic mentality, I would say that her style is one of depth, and while the songs and her lyrics may not be all that clear, the dynamic emotions in her songs can be painfully clear.

                So why Christina’s World? Aside from it being one of Wyeth’s most recognizable paintings it fits in with Groupers style. The painting depicts one of Wyeth’s neighbors who had polio and could be commonly seen crawling around the fields surrounding Wyeth’s house, it presents a solemn sense of isolation, a longing; it is the perspective of an outsider, and so too does Harris don the guise of someone who is isolated from. Whether it is simply because she makes music that sounds so different from what we are used to, or whether there are underlying traits of her personality reflected in the music, it hardly matters; the types of emotions that she draws upon in her songs are clear, whether she feels them herself or not is of no consequence. Grouper’s music is so polarizing in that persons who don’t relate to it will probably call it garbage, but persons who can relate will flock to it.

                Another reason why Christina’s World compares so well to Grouper’s music is the way in which it gets its message across. There is a certain quiet that comes along with Christina’s World, a mystifying simplicity that is a bit hard to pin down. Where other artists would try to depict a strong emotional response by showing the face of the subject of the painting, Wyeth frames his picture with Chrisina’s back fully in frame. Her face is not showing, so to the viewer she could be crying, smiling, laughing, she could have no nose, we have no way of knowing. Wyeth was still able to instill all the feeling that he wanted to in spite of that. Likewise Harris does something similar. As I said when comparing her to Frost, her minimalistic style does a very good job of guiding listeners towards where they are supposed to feel, as opposed to hitting them over the head with it. And where other musicians would only use the types of tones that Harris does to push sadness but then switch to something upbeat for a happy song, One of the reasons why Grouper’s music is so impressive is that she is able to produce all types of different nuanced feelings within her simple acoustic guitar Wurlitzer organ formula.