Indie artist Grouper has announced her 12th studio album Shade. The Bay Area-inspired album is set to drop on October 22nd via Kranky. Alongside the album announcement, the singer songwriter has released her first single off the album, “Unclean Mind.”  The album has a deep connection with the north coast and the singer expresses her feelings for the Pacific Northwest poetically and musically throughout the album. According to the singer, the album will touch on loss, love, flaws and hiding places.

In 2019, Liz Harris aka Grouper released her album After its own death /Walking in a spiral towards the house under her new project, Nivhek. In the beginning of this year, it was revealed that Harris is featured on Xiu Xiu’s newest album Oh No. Their song “Bottle of Rum,” was inspired by Harris’ “Heavy Water/ I’d Rather Be Sleeping.”

The last Grouper album, Grid of Points, was released three years ago in 2018. The album is critically acclaimed and even made the list of mxdwn’s Top 50 Albums of 2018.  Mxdwn’s Aaron Grech called the album of the ambient musician “some of the most hauntingly beautiful music she has composed.”

Grouper’s newest song features her signature lo-fi sound and spacious vocals. The very soft acoustic guitar almost overpowers the quiet singing of Harris. And even though her vocals are tame, they still carry the singers emotion. Because it’s  such a deeply emotional song, it’s a perfect way to sit back and just drift away mentally, maybe even to clean one’s mind. As a first taste of her new music as Grouper, the new single promises a wonderfully lo-fi album by the ambient artist.

Check out the album cover and tracklist below:

Shade Tracklist: 

1. Followed the Ocean
2. Unclean Mind
3. Ode to the Blue
4. Pale Interior
5. Disordered Minds
6. The Way Her Hair Falls
7. Promise
8. Basement Mix
9. Kelso (Blue Sky)