For those who caught Grouper dur­ing her last trip to NZ, she will need no intro­duc­tion. For those who missed her – don’t repeat your mis­take! We are lucky to have a return vis­it from this Port­land nat­ive, play­ing once again with Auck­land’s Pumice with new­comers Glass Vaults at Happy tomor­row night (Tues­day Septem­ber 28th). Pre­s­ales are $15 from undertheradar.co.nz. More on the door.

Liz Har­ris’ GROUPER evokes the ghosts of songs, using minor-key, folk-derived melod­ies swathed in sheets of delay to carry her fra­gile vocals. Over albums such as Wide (2006) and Drag­ging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (2008), Har­ris has expan­ded upon her decept­ively simple form, mov­ing from all encom­passing ambi­ance, cocooned in oceans of reverb, to a more stark, yet no less absorb­ing form, vul­ner­able imagery emer­ging from the music like half-remembered dreams.

Auck­land’s Stefan Neville a.k.a. PUMICE is in no need of an intro­duc­tion for dis­cern­ing NZ listen­ers. A ram­shackle one-man band, play­ing gui­tar, vocals, tape loops and drums sim­ul­tan­eously, he bridges the void between all-out impro­visa­tion and tightly executed song craft. It’s noise, it’s lo-fi, it’s drone, it’s pop – often all at once – Pumice defies all expect­a­tions with his live show. Neville’s dis­co­graphy is bey­ond extens­ive, hav­ing been con­sist­ently pump­ing out releases since 1994.

Hav­ing already brought her arrest­ing and beau­ti­ful show to NZ in 2009, Grouper­’s return is a wel­come chance for those who missed out first time around to see Har­ris’ aching and mov­ing music in the flesh.