Nivhek is an exploratory side project of Liz Harris, a Pacific Northwest musician widely praised for her work under the name Grouper. While Grouper's albums have gradually become more intimate and song-focused, Nivhek's 2019 debut, After Its Own Death/Walking in a Spiral Towards the House, contains some of Harris' most abstract, even ritualistic work.

Harris grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was raised in a Fourth Way commune. Going by the name Grouper, inspired by her commune upbringing, she began releasing experimental music consisting of her heavily distorted vocals, beginning with her 2005 self-titled debut CD-R. By the time she released her fifth album, 2008's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, her sound had evolved into a sort of ethereal folk rock, with melodic guitars and clearer (though still reverb-soaked) vocals. The release proved to be Grouper's breakthrough, and she continued releasing acclaimed albums throughout the 2010s. With 2014's Ruins and 2018's Grid of Points, Grouper's music became much sparser and more skeletal than before, consisting almost entirely of piano and vocals. By contrast, Harris' 2019 album as Nivhek, After Its Own Death/Walking in a Spiral Towards the House, contained unhurried, lengthy experimental pieces constructed from field recordings, Mellotron, and broken effects pedals, meditating on loss and confusion. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi