On her 3rd outing as Grouper, Liz Harris strides forward with her most fully realized album to date. Where previous efforts were more or less focused on the creation of ambient spaces that masked the underlying song structures of each of Harris?s pieces, ?Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill? finds her striking a fine balance point between the two creating an amazing cycle of dreamy melancholic pop songs. The twelve down tempo cuts on this album envelope the listener in a swirling fog of sound; acting as a transportation device to those quite hours in the morning where the fog and chill of night are just starting to lift and one can begin to see the first rays of light glistening off the dew. Those beautifully still hours when the world slips momentarily into silence while shifting between night and day. There?s a sense of sadness that pervades these songs, but Harris manages to circumnavigate the tendency many may have to bog the listener down in a mire of despair, but instead offers up a more contemplative atmosphere.

Each song is simply and carefully arranged for acoustic guitar, electric guitar and voice. Many of the pieces maintain but a single pattern over which Harris lays her wonderful and soothing voice encouraging the listener to drift off. There is almost a mantra-like quality to each of the songs with its reliance on repetition and sustained mood. Beginning with the brief instrumental ?Disengaged? the album moves into full on dreamsong mode with ?Heavy Water/I?d Rather be Sleeping?. This piece works to set the tone for the whole record, the first part invoking more atmosphere or a dreamscape, while ?I?d Rather be Sleeping? is a straight up and engrossing song structure based around a very simple chord progression on acoustic guitar and a yearning to return to sleep. As the album moves along the songs switch between acoustic and mildly effected electric guitar all the while continuing along the intoxicating path established at the onset of the recording. While each song is an absolute joy to behold, the space is established in such a way that each function more or less as part of a whole and differentiating one from another really becomes rather unnecessary, one just yearns for the woozy effect of those breathy vocals as they eventual gather the listener up into an almost euphoric state of being.

?Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill? is really a testament to the power of simplicity within song, and is one of those great records that will require continued listening for many years to come, especially when moments of reflection and contemplation are needed. This is an amazing album that will most likely remain a highlight release for the year. 10/10 -- Cory Card (18 June, 2008)