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
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 22, 2021
Recorded2006–2021
Genre
Length34:59
LabelKranky
ProducerLiz Harris
Grouper chronology
Grid of Points
(2018)
Shade
(2021)
Singles from Shade
  1. "Unclean Mind"
    Released: July 27th, 2021
  2. "Ode To The Blue"
    Released: September 15th, 2021

Recording

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Shade consists of songs recorded over a span of fifteen years, from 2006 to 2021.[1]

Release

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Shade 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

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.9/10[5]
Metacritic86/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [6]
Beats Per Minute71%[7]
Clash8/10[8]
Exclaim!8/10[9]
Mojo     [10]
musicOMH     [11]
Paste7.5/10[12]
Pitchfork8.2/10[1]
The Skinny     [13]
Uncut9/10[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

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Accolades for Shade
Publication Accolade Rank
AllMusic AllMusic's Best of 2021
N/A[16]
BrooklynVegan BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2021
The Fader The Fader's Top 50 Albums of 2021
Pitchfork Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2021
The Quietus The Quietus' Top 100 Albums of 2021
Washington Post The Washington Post's Top 10 Albums of 2021
The Wire The Wire's Top 50 Albums of 2021

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Liz Harris

No.TitleLength
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

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  1. ^ a b Bromfield, Daniel (October 26, 2021). "Grouper: Shade". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  2. ^ Minsker, Evan (July 27, 2021). "Grouper Announces New Album Shade, Shares New Song "Unclean Mind": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  3. ^ Minsker, Evan (September 15, 2021). "Grouper Shares Video for New Song "Ode to the blue": Watch". Pitchfork.
  4. ^ a b "Shade by Grouper Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  5. ^ "Shade by Grouper reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  6. ^ Phares, Heather. "Shade – Grouper". AllMusic. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Fisette, Jeremy J. (October 27, 2021). "Album Review: Grouper – Shade". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  8. ^ Gallagher, Marianne (November 2, 2021). "Grouper - Shade". Clash. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  9. ^ Beedham, Tom (October 21, 2021). "Grouper's Latest Brings Every 'Shade' of Liz Harris into Focus". Exclaim!. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  10. ^ Male, Andrew (October 2021). "Grouper – Shade: Twelfth LP from the Pacific Northwest artist, assembled over the past 15 years". Mojo. No. 335. p. 96.
  11. ^ Cotsell, Matt (October 22, 2021). "Grouper – Shade". musicOMH. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  12. ^ Reyes-Kulkarni, Saby (October 22, 2021). "On Shade, Grouper Draws from 15 Years of Unreleased Recordings". Paste. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  13. ^ Inglis, Tony (October 19, 2021). "Grouper album review: Shade". The Skinny. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  14. ^ Dale, Jon (November 2021). "Grouper – Shade: Gorgeously deep water songs, singing out from Oregon's North Coast". Uncut. No. 294. p. 34.
  15. ^ Richards, Chris (December 7, 2021). "Best music of 2021: Playboi Carti, Grouper, Turnstile, Yasmin Williams and more". The Washington Post.
  16. ^ "AllMusic Best of 2021". AllMusic. March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  17. ^ "BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2021". BrooklynVegan. December 28, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  18. ^ "The 50 best albums of 2021". The Fader. December 14, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  19. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2021". Pitchfork. December 7, 2021.
  20. ^ "Quietus Albums Of The Year 2021 (In Association With Norman Records)". The Quietus. December 6, 2021.
  21. ^ "Best music of 2021: Playboi Carti, Grouper, Turnstile, Yasmin Williams and more". The Washington Post. December 7, 2018.
  22. ^ "Wire: Top 50 Albums of 2021". Year-End Lists. December 7, 2018.