From the outside looking in is Grouper's isolated viewpoint, delving in the abyss and teetering on the brink of this world and the next. Liz Harris was encouraged to perform and learn instruments as a child whilst being raised in a sect named The Group, living in the Sonora Mountains in North California. "We were isolated from the rest of the world, in that we only hung out with each other. I didn't meet anyone from outside the commune until I was 11 when I first went to public school...We were taught that our world was separate." (The Wire, 334). Children were moved in between families within The Group rarely spending time with their genetic relatives, but also had free reign in the countryside near the sea. It's clear to see how these early experiences impacted Harris' approach to art and is able to summon an unparalleled sense of disconnect in otherworldly voids she creates. 'Alien Observer' and 'Dream Loss' similarly to earlier work, embody the sense of being disengaged. Songs creep in and wash over you like an ethereal breeze or wave with the help of her set-to-whisper singing. Electronic effects react to and echo ambient natural surroundings creating a plain allowing Harris to venture inwards and externalize the limbo she exists in. One of the most captivating female artists around today and worth every bit of your time, Mississippi Records is said to have some.
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