Grouper AIA: Alien Observer

Kranky offers up the first vinyl editions of sister A I A albums subtitled Dream Loss and Alien Observer since their initial self-released pressing quickly went out of print in 2011. A chronological order informs the thematic trajectory of the dual release. Dream Loss is the first album and is a collection of older songs, while Alien Observer is mostly made of newer songs. Each is meant to stand solidly on its own, and also as a satellite in the other's system, subjects on either side of the water's surface, on either side of a trick mirror; at times reflecting one back to the other, at times looking straight through to the other. Suffice it to say that Liz Harris has created an exquisite sonic universe where she is the sole inhabitant, and we should consider it a privilege to listen in.

"This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them." – Pitchfork

"This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful – surely Grouper's best." – Tiny Mix Tapes