Photo by David Belisle
[placeholder:mediastore.audiofile.3537]
Liz Harris of Grouper and Jesy Fortino of Tiny Vipers met about five years ago, when they exchanged a note via MySpace. By chance, they were booked to play the same show shortly thereafter and, later, played some more dates together in Europe. It was obvious to both that they had a lot in common: They're based in the Pacific Northwest (Harris in Portland, Fortino in Seattle) and specialize in dark, introspective songs that do much with little. As Grouper, Harris moves between blurred-out singer/songwriter fare and expansive bottom-of-the-ocean drones, while Fortino's Tiny Vipers work focuses on stark songs reminiscent of British folk that's built around her voice and acoustic guitar. For Harris and Fortino, it seemed only a matter of time before they worked on something together. And with Foreign Body-- the pair's collaborative album as Mirrorring, which is due out March 19 via Kranky-- it's finally happened.