Shade is the twelfth studio album by American musician Liz Harris under the stage name Grouper. It was released in the United States on October 22, 2021 on Kranky.
| Shade | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 22, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | 2006–2021 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 34:59 | |||
| Label | Kranky | |||
| Producer | Liz Harris | |||
| Grouper chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Shade | ||||
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Recording
editShade consists of songs recorded over a span of fifteen years, from 2006 to 2021.[1]
Release
editShade was announced on July 27, 2021.[2] Accompanying the announcement, the track "Unclean Mind" was released. On September 15, Grouper released and shared a video for the track "Ode to the Blue". The video featured musician Julia Holter.[3]
Critical reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.9/10[5] |
| Metacritic | 86/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| Beats Per Minute | 71%[7] |
| Clash | 8/10[8] |
| Exclaim! | 8/10[9] |
| Mojo | [10] |
| musicOMH |  [11] |
| Paste | 7.5/10[12] |
| Pitchfork | 8.2/10[1] |
| The Skinny | [13] |
| Uncut | 9/10[14] |
The aggregate review site Metacritic assigns an average score of 86 out of 100 to the album based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[4]
Shade was ranked the 2nd best album of the year in The Washington Post's year-end list.[15]
Accolades
edit| Publication | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| AllMusic | AllMusic's Best of 2021 | N/A[16]
|
| BrooklynVegan | BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2021 | 38[17]
|
| The Fader | The Fader's Top 50 Albums of 2021 | 47[18]
|
| Pitchfork | Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2021 | 18[19]
|
| The Quietus | The Quietus' Top 100 Albums of 2021 | 39[20]
|
| Washington Post | The Washington Post's Top 10 Albums of 2021 | 2[21]
|
| The Wire | The Wire's Top 50 Albums of 2021 | 29[22]
|
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Liz Harris
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Followed The Ocean" | 2:54 |
| 2. | "Unclean Mind" | 3:51 |
| 3. | "Ode to the Blue" | 2:53 |
| 4. | "Pale Interior" | 3:51 |
| 5. | "Disordered Minds" | 4:34 |
| 6. | "The Way Her Hair Falls" | 2:35 |
| 7. | "Promise" | 2:49 |
| 8. | "Basement Mix" | 5:17 |
| 9. | "Kelso (Blue Sky)" | 6:15 |
| Total length: | 34:59 | |
References
edit- ^ a b Bromfield, Daniel (October 26, 2021). "Grouper: Shade". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Minsker, Evan (July 27, 2021). "Grouper Announces New Album Shade, Shares New Song "Unclean Mind": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Minsker, Evan (September 15, 2021). "Grouper Shares Video for New Song "Ode to the blue": Watch". Pitchfork.
- ^ a b "Shade by Grouper Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ "Shade by Grouper reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Phares, Heather. "Shade – Grouper". AllMusic. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Fisette, Jeremy J. (October 27, 2021). "Album Review: Grouper – Shade". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ^ Gallagher, Marianne (November 2, 2021). "Grouper - Shade". Clash. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Beedham, Tom (October 21, 2021). "Grouper's Latest Brings Every 'Shade' of Liz Harris into Focus". Exclaim!. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Male, Andrew (October 2021). "Grouper – Shade: Twelfth LP from the Pacific Northwest artist, assembled over the past 15 years". Mojo. No. 335. p. 96.
- ^ Cotsell, Matt (October 22, 2021). "Grouper – Shade". musicOMH. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ^ Reyes-Kulkarni, Saby (October 22, 2021). "On Shade, Grouper Draws from 15 Years of Unreleased Recordings". Paste. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Inglis, Tony (October 19, 2021). "Grouper album review: Shade". The Skinny. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ^ Dale, Jon (November 2021). "Grouper – Shade: Gorgeously deep water songs, singing out from Oregon's North Coast". Uncut. No. 294. p. 34.
- ^ Richards, Chris (December 7, 2021). "Best music of 2021: Playboi Carti, Grouper, Turnstile, Yasmin Williams and more". The Washington Post.
- ^ "AllMusic Best of 2021". AllMusic. March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ "BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2021". BrooklynVegan. December 28, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ "The 50 best albums of 2021". The Fader. December 14, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2021". Pitchfork. December 7, 2021.
- ^ "Quietus Albums Of The Year 2021 (In Association With Norman Records)". The Quietus. December 6, 2021.
- ^ "Best music of 2021: Playboi Carti, Grouper, Turnstile, Yasmin Williams and more". The Washington Post. December 7, 2018.
- ^ "Wire: Top 50 Albums of 2021". Year-End Lists. December 7, 2018.