Grid of Points by Grouper; Bandcamp Link: Grid of Points
Number 40 in the Wire Magazine (@thewiremagazine) Top 50 Releases of 2018.
I’ve heard Grouper over the years, and always had the idea that I like them, or her, but I can’t say I’ve ever really sat down and listened to an album.
Grid of Points is very short, 15 or 20 minutes. (Shortness is seemingly a common thing among Wire Magazine’s picks this year. A lot of EPs.)
Initially, I felt like it was too short and wondered why it couldn’t be longer. It is kind of drone-ey and atmospheric. A drone-ey 4 minute some can easily become a drone-ey 15 minute song.
Then I listened back to a couple of Grouper’s other records, and realized that Grid of Points is less sonically diverse than some of her other work, so it probably made sense to keep it short, before it wore out its welcome.
As near as I can tell, the primary new factor on Grid of Points is that she makes extensive use of multi-tracked harmonizing vocals for the first time.
Other than that, it is pretty much the usual reverb drenched atmospheric mood pieces with spare instrumentation that you would expect from a Grouper album.
If you like that sort of thing, you’ll love it. If you hate reverb drenched vocals, it may not be your bag of cats.
#GridOfPoints #Grouper #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #WireMagazineTop50
