In reviewing Grouper’s split release with Roy Montgomery from 2009 I described her “hazy, delicate and touching” sound, one that would carry into the 2010s successfully – including on this sole album from Mirrorring, the duo of Liz (Grouper) and Jesy (Tiny Vipers). This is, I believe, Grouper’s first release for Kranky (unless you count the digital premiere of “Fell Sound” a month earlier). At the time of its release Grouper’s output seemed like an embarrassment of riches (the double album AIA and the astounding “Water People” / “Moving Machine” 12″ had both been out less than a year) and I didn’t think too much of Foreign Body. Now I approach it like a Champion Sound of the contemporary ambient or folk scene: two greats in collaboration, switching off on lead vocals.

Truly, the Internet has broken my brain because the first word that comes to mind with this album is “goated”. I’ve yet to listen to it on good speakers, but I fear my mind and body might be transported to some far-away desert dimension and never return. In my taste for music that is unhurried, it seems the collaboration of Grouper and Tiny Vipers is the perfect recipe. Heavenly to start, Grouper takes vocals over a massive expanse of drone. It’s a bit surprising, though, that this was released as the album’s advance track and not “Silent From Above”. This is not a judgement of value, but Jesy’s vocals are far less murky than Liz’s, and her words much easier to parse. This suits the tighter “Silent From Above”, its bittersweet and blue guitars and vocals sounding like they were recorded outside by the campfire. “Cliffs”, the longest track here, is also the sleepiest, but it picks up a bit past the 5-minute mark.

Later, “Mine” proves the album’s climax – a huge drone with Jesy’s strong, melodic vocals. Boy if this doesn’t make you feel something. Towards the end the track appears to be eating itself, but then the monster reverb itself fades out, leaving little but space, with “Mirror of Our Sleeping” as a post-script.

Grouper followed Mirrorring with the Dragging a Dead Deer-era compilation The Man Who Died in His Boat (2013) and the sparse Ruins (2014). Tiny Vipers would later release an album of ambient excursions, Laughter, in 2017, which I find under-rated and is for some reason not on streaming services.

Listen to Foreign Body here.