Perusing Beautiful Losers scion Aaron Rose's blog recently, we noticed he'd used something we found familiar as captions. Rose likes to underscore his photos with bits of prose and poetry, usually from ancient sages. But this was fresher, more familiar, though similarly resonant. Halfway through, we realized it was the lyrics to "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping," a FADER favorite, spooky and sweet song by Portland's Grouper. "Hold the Way" is a new track with a creepy video, from Grouper's upcoming Vessel, that begins with some ominous and aggressive incomprehensible voice over chatter, before washing away into Grouper's main body, Liz Harris' wordless voice and tiny bits of lull. We've been surprised but pleased by Grouper's seemingly universal acceptance, as if everyone understood that something overwhelmingly calm every now and then is crucial, and the best way to get that is with Northwestern cassette loops and hushed layers of often wordless, lush and quiet vocals. It's good when we can agree.
