Grouplove - Healer (LP) - Red Opaque Vinyl

Grouplove’s fourth album, Healer, landed on March 13, 2020, right as venue calendars went blank and tours were pulled down like flyers in a sudden storm. The timing turned out to be strangely fitting for a band that has always pushed joy through the cracks. Healer wears its title with purpose. It is a record about finding a way back to yourself when the noise gets too loud, and it arrived when a lot of us needed a little light.

Part of that clarity came from how the band made it. Grouplove teamed with two sharp-eared producers, Dave Sitek and Malay, and you can hear both hands at work. Sitek’s love of fuzzy edges and saturated guitars gives the album grit in all the right places, while Malay keeps the vocals and hooks shining through. The result is loud, tactile pop rock that doesn’t sand off the splinters. It also carries deep personal stakes. Singer and visual artist Hannah Hooper underwent brain surgery in 2018, a life shift she spoke about around the album’s release, and you can feel that brush with vulnerability echoing through the writing and the way she and Christian Zucconi lean into each other’s harmonies. Hooper painted the cover too, another thread that ties the music to the band’s own hands.

“Deleter” kicked the door open in early 2020 and became a proper alt-radio moment, topping Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. It thumps on tom-heavy drums and that call-and-response chant you can hear bouncing off festival fields. The guitars scrape and squall, the bass line moves like a crowd in motion, and the hook sticks. It is one of those Grouplove songs that makes you want to shout with strangers, which is exactly what the band built its reputation on back when “Tongue Tied” first rewired indie dance nights. On Healer they chase that communal spark, then crack it open to see what else is there.

The rest of the record keeps a playful, restless heart. You get quick shocks of synth color, percussion that pops from every corner, and big, human gang vocals rising up behind Hooper and Zucconi. Andrew Wessen’s guitars shift from wiry to widescreen, and Daniel Gleason’s bass does the work of glue, especially when the choruses go skyward. There is a tug between neon-bright pop instinct and scuffed-up rock textures, and that push-pull feels honest for a band that came up shouting joy but lived through a few heavy chapters. Even the quieter moments hang onto a pulse, like the album is reminding you to keep moving.

All of that momentum made the pandemic shutdown especially cruel. Healer was set up for a spring tour that never really happened beyond a few stripped-back streams, then a long pause. Still, the songs traveled. Fans gravitated to the cathartic stuff and the jagged edges, and you could see “Deleter” turning into a new setlist anchor as venues reopened. Press at the time picked up on the urgency and the hooks, and the album settled into that sweet spot where longtime fans felt seen and curious newcomers had an easy on-ramp.

For folks digging through bins or hunting online for good-sounding modern indie, the Healer vinyl is a tidy way to capture the band’s live energy at home. The production’s low-end thump and those stacked vocals translate well on wax, and Hooper’s artwork looks better full size than it ever will on a phone screen. If you’re already collecting Grouplove albums on vinyl, this sits nicely between the sugar-rush glow of Never Trust a Happy Song and the more widescreen Big Mess. If you’re trying to buy Grouplove records online, check indie shops first, since they often snag limited color runs. I’ve even stumbled across copies in a Melbourne record store while traveling, proof that these things get around. Crate diggers in the region know how lively the scene is for vinyl records Australia wide, and this one tends to disappear fast when it shows up.

Healer is also a reminder of why this band endures. Even when the drums are pounding and the choruses are built for a thousand voices, the songs reach for connection, not just volume. That’s what makes Grouplove vinyl such an easy recommendation, and why a spin of Healer can feel like a small reset. Put it on, let the room fill up, and by the time “Deleter” throws its arms around you, it is hard not to feel a little lighter.