The Original Faces is not altogether different from that of listening to music in a foreign language; without the implicit pressure of having to decipher it, you listen from a relaxed, open place, where a strong twist of melody, suddenly, has just as much power as a well-crafted turn of phrase.
Sometimes you have a dream and it’s not bad. It’s not wish-fulfillment, but you feel more alive for having had it. The memory of the dream’s worth nothing, but you’ll chase the feeling all day. This album is a lot like that.
This new full-length goes further, shaping the emotional goop and debris of Grouper’s shuttered songs into pieces that start to resemble guitar-pop songs.
It's nice to hear Harris pushing her otherwise ghostly music into lusher and sunnier places, but it doesn't prevent The Original Faces from feeling a little underdeveloped and like a missed opportunity by the band to take the kind of music they are making in more interesting directions.
Upon cursory listens ... The Original Faces, appears to be an accessible, if noisy, entry into the shoegaze-pop canon, not unlike A Sunny Day in Glasgow's excellent Sea When Absent. In all actuality, it's a little bit insane.
Like a girl on drugs who occasionally breaks from her trance to realize she has no idea how she arrived at this point in time, The Original Faces is unaware of space and time in a less endearing way than that sounds.
Some of the most upbeat music Liz Harris (Grouper) has been a part of. She is a wonderful frontwoman for this dark scuzzy lo fi shoegaze act.
This is an under appreciated record so far. It feels like a trip in the car with your friends down some moutain tops. I think this album presents us some great instrumental parts such as the tracks Dying All The Time, Ryder or Covered in Shade as well as gloomy and beautiful vocals by the wonderfull Liz Harris.
I just love the dynamics on this record, it can be some how heavy and kind of fast but also slow, calm, peacefull and very bright. Loving the low-fi production on this thing as well, it ... read more
Okay don’t get me wrong I’m a Grouper fan and all, but Liz Harris was born to be a shoegaze front woman
1 | Ryder 3:16 | |
2 | Motorcycle 1:50 | |
3 | Covered in Shade 1:19 | |
4 | Felt This Way 4:00 | |
5 | Pass Me By 2:16 | |
6 | Right Outside 2:15 | |
7 | Allison 3:34 | |
8 | Dying All the Time 3:56 | |
9 | Grace 2:39 | |
10 | City Breathing 1:52 | |
11 | Violet 4:08 | |
12 | The Original Faces 1:34 |
#7 | / | Gorilla vs. Bear |
#9 | / | Norman Records |
#22 | / | Tiny Mix Tapes |
#31 | / | The Vinyl Factory |
#42 | / | FACT Magazine |
#43 | / | Crack Magazine |