Kranky will release The Man Who Died In His Boat–a collection of previously unreleased Grouper tracks–on February 4th. Here’s what Liz Harris had to say about the album, alongside a spellbound single called “Vital” and a complete stream of Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, the breakthrough record that was written around the same time and will be reissued by Kranky as well…
When I was a teenager the wreckage of a sailboat washed up on the shore of Agate Beach. The remains of the vessel weren’t removed for several days. I walked down with my father to peer inside the boat cabin. Maps, coffee cups and clothing were strewn around inside.
I remember looking only briefly, wilted by the feeling that I was violating some remnant of this man’s presence by witnessing the evidence of its failure. Later I read a story about him in the paper. It was impossible to know what had happened. The boat had never crashed or capsized. He had simply slipped off somehow, and the boat, like a riderless horse, eventually came back home.
