GROUPER "The Man Who Died In His Boat" PITCHFORK BEST NEW MUSIC 8.3

Kranky's latest LP/CD release of Grouper's The Man Who Died In His Boat received an 8.3 BEST NEW MUSIC review today on Pitchfork ~

"Her body of work is of a piece. She layers ethereal vocals that feel less like floating in the clouds and more like sinking into the dark earth, possibly while inside of a coffin; her music is a downcast mix of strummed acoustic guitar and defiantly analog sounding drone and noise-makers. With this small clutch of elements, she's made more than a half-dozen full-lengths and a number of singles and EPs, all of which sound like they could come from no one else. Indeed, the distinctiveness of Grouper is easy to take for granted. There are so many people making music that could fall under the broad heading of 'dream pop,' but nobody sounds like Grouper…Talking to people about her music, people who are typically ready to share half-formed opinions about music of any kind, I find they often have trouble coming up with words; when it really hits, as it often does here, the music of Grouper creates a feeling that can only be defined as awe, an uncanny mixture of wonder and dread that nobody does better. "

AND (!) they show some appreciation (with noted admission of their initial - ahem - review) of the release coupled with TMWDIHB - Kranky's reissue of Grouper's LP/CD Dragging A Dead Dear Up A Hill:

"There is one record in the Grouper catalog that, while certainly cut from the same frayed cloth, stands just slightly outside of the rest. Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, first released in 2008, mostly forgoes the drones and minimalist experiments of her other work and focuses on Harris' voice and strummed guitar. It's her 'folk' record, in a way, even though it slots in easily next to her more drawn-out and noisy releases. It is also her best album, a classic of subtly devastating songwriting (it's also an album Pitchfork initially underrated). Around the same time she was recording Deer, Harris cut a handful of songs in a similar vein for a planned album that was never released. Five years on comes The Man Who Died in the Boat, a companion record to Deer (which Kranky is also reissuing on vinyl) that shares many of its characteristics and essential appeal."