Quote Originally Posted by jonnyhambone View Post
My tastes have been a bit more loud and heavy lately but I'm really struck by the new Grouper album, Ruins. She (Grouper is just Liz Harris) has typically created very ambient atmospheres thru layers of reverbed guitar and her beautiful voice acting as an instrument more than vocalist. This new one is mostly piano with the lyrics much clearer but just as darkly atmospheric and emotive as anything she's done. It also makes great use of the spaces she recorded in - a small house in South America - with frogs and cicadas filling in the empty spaces and the occasional rumble of thunder and rain.
That is a nice record, I do really like the sound, very lofi recording with the piano pretty closely miked, as you say it has a great ambience. I can't really understand anything she's singing, though from reading some about it, the words match the somber sound. Not sure how much I really like it, getting some great reviews but I'd be reluctant to recommend it to anyone. I've only listened a couple times, and not all at once, which it probably needs.